A Special Task
by Generatedname
Summary: A Salarian STG team is sent to begin the covert uplift of a race known as the Humans. What happens next will forever change the face of the galaxy, as a new race enters the galactic stage. OC heavy. My first fic, so constructive criticism is appreciated. Rating may be subject to change.
1. Prologue Part 1- Contact

**Prologue: First Contact**

Commander Morvan Relos looked over his datapad one last time. His eyes scanned the message again and again, searching for any possible hope that it was a hoax, a forgery. He found nothing, no reason to doubt the fact that the orders were genuine. His STG unit had just been ordered to begin the covert uplift of yet another species, proving that the counselor still had not learned from the mistakes of her predecessors. Primitive species should advance on their own, not be forced into a galaxy they were not prepared for! But orders were orders, and he had no choice but to follow them. Giving the order to the rest of his team, he moved to the transport provided for him. After the last STG member boarded, the door closed with a soft hiss. A few minutes later, the docking clamps released and the transport sped into orbit.

The Salarians had covertly activated a relay in the Exodus cluster, giving the STG task force a way into the target system. However, until the relay on the other side could be activated, there was no way out. As the transport approached the relay, one of the doctors onboard walked up to Morvan, giving off all the cues of excitement.

"Can you believe it? We're going to make first contact with a new species!" He blurted out, almost too fast for Morvan to follow.

"You are not at all concerned about this being a repeat of the Krogan Rebellions?" Morvan asked the scientist.

"Of course I am, but this race was chosen for a reason. The counselor would never risk a repeat of the rebellions."

"From what I know of these 'Humans', they seem like a cross between us and the Turians. They have our innovative spirit and curiosity, coupled with the militaristic drive of the Turians. A dangerous combination."

"Then it is our job to tame them, like we did the Krogan."

"Even a tamed Varren can turn on its master, doctor."

"Then we neuter them, like we did the Krogan."

"How many times do I have to re-iterate this? THEY ARE NOT THE KROGAN! The Krogan are just violent brutes. These humans are violent, INTELLIGENT brutes. They developed nuclear power as an offshoot of nuclear weapons, and here we are, giving them mass effect tech!"

"If you did not want this mission, then you should not have volunteered Morvan,"

"I will follow orders, I am merely questioning the sanity of those giving them. Now I must return to my station." Morvan finished his dialog, walking away from the overeager scientist towards his post. He reached it just as the transport hit the relay. It was nearly instantaneously catapulted across thousands of light years of space, before suddenly decelerating as it reached its destination. The sensor mask activated, and the ship moved towards the third planet in the system.

Several hours later, the planet became visible to the naked eye. That was when the surprises began. One of the bridge crew, the officer in charge of sensors, suddenly blurted out in shock, "I'm picking up communications between a base on the planet's moon and one of the cities on the east coast of the secondary continental mass. In addition, I am detecting at least three large space stations in orbit of the planet, and a smaller one in orbit around the moon."

"What? When our last probe visited, they had just started to launch primitive satellites into orbit! How can they have a moon base already?" one of the other officers shouted.

"They are inconsequential. We will proceed as planned." Morvan said, calming the surrounding bridge crew. "We will be dropping the sensor mask after we enter the atmosphere. Head towards the city communicating with the moon base. We'll make contact there."

"Yes sir." The crew chorused as the ship sped towards its destination.

* * *

**June 6th, 2034**

"We have an unknown radar contact over the west coast. Its heading east-southeast... It just appeared over the ocean, in the middle of our radar screen... Very well, we'll monitor it from here... How many fighters are being launched?... Damn... Allright, we'll keep you posted. Phoenix base out."

David Taylor listened to his superior talk on the phone. He heard the click of him hanging up, before Commander Samuel Archer turned to him and said "They're scrambling 8 fighters to intercept that contact. The new F-25s too, carrying EMP warheads. We're not the only ones to pick that thing up, and its got our superiors worried. We're supposed to monitor the contact, let them know if it changes course."

"Who's 'Them'?" Taylor asked, wondering just who could scramble so many cutting edge fighters so fast.

"That's for me to know, and you to find out." Archer replied, "Now get back to work."

"Yes sir."

* * *

"This is Foxtrot 1, we're about 300 miles away from the target, closing fast. What are our orders?"

Mike Chambers heard the voice crackle over his radio.

"We are to wait until it's over land, somewhere clear of witnesses, then EMP it to hell. Then the eggheads back at base get to play with it. Zulu 1 out." he replied, watching as his fighter closed the distance with the UFO. 150 miles away, some alien was about to have a really bad day.

* * *

"Multiple alien aircraft detected, closing fast!" the sensors officer shouted. "12 minutes to intercept!"

"Do not fire on them, repeat, do not fire." Morvan said, watching on his own console as the human craft moved in to intercept his craft.

The next twelve minutes seemed like days to him. Then, out of the window, he caught a glimpse of the human fighter. It looked vaguely similar to a pre-spaceflight turian craft, albeit longer, with smoother angles. The transport was just passing over a desert, then the entire mission fell apart.

* * *

"We have visual contact with the UFO over the Mojave desert. Do we have permission to engage?" Zulu 1's voice crackled in Chambers' ear.

"Granted. We have visual contact. Lets hope these hardened electronics can take the EMP. Missiles are locked." He replied, before thumbing the firing button, releasing a pair of Rattlesnake EMP missiles. They sped after the UFO, releasing the EMP pulse as they went, before impacting with the alien ship. He watched as the rest of Foxtrot flight launched missiles as well, with Zulu's weaponry being launched as well. He saw the alien ship stagger in flight, with some of the glowing lights on its side going out. As the other missiles entered effective range, the rest of the lights cut out, and the Alien craft plummeted towards the desert below.

* * *

"OUR ENGINES ARE OUT! THEY'VE HIT US WITH AN EMP!" One of the officers onboard screamed.

"Dammit, can we get our engines online?" Morvan shouted.

"We can, but we won't be able to pull out of this dive, the most we can do is decelerate!" The pilot screamed.

"Do it." Morvan said.

The transport's engines slowly stuttered back to life, slowing the ship as it fell to its doom. Then, with a loud SLAM! and the screech of tearing metal, the transport hit the ground.

* * *

"We have a confirmed kill on the UFO. Repeat, the ETs are down. How copy over?" Chambers shouted over the radio, pumping his fist in the air as he watched the UFO hit the ground.

"Loud and clear Foxtrot 1, we already have several V-24 Buzzards inbound to the crash site. We'll have it secured within the hour. Return to base. Over and out." the message from command ceased, and the fighters turned to head back to Nellis AFB.

* * *

Karen Hendriks gripped her rifle tightly as the V-24 descended towards the UFO crash site. The orders were clear. Get in, secure the site, capture the aliens if possible, then wait for pickup. The VTOL's jet engines suddenly quieted down as the VTOL touched down. She readied the M-19 Assault rifle, one with new magnetic acceleration technology, and waited as the rear door of the VTOL opened. The squad rushed out, only to find the aliens waiting outside for them. Several of them raised weapons, but did not fire. Instead, one of them stepped forward. "We come in peace." It said through some kind of gadget. Half of the soldiers then burst out laughing.

* * *

"We come in peace." Morvan said, praying that the translator didn't turn it into some kind of insult. Then, the human soldiers burst out laughing. One of them cried "That line is SOOO overused!" before doubling over and laughing again.

"What's so humorous?" Morvan asked.

"That line is used in so many of our science fiction vids. Now back to the real matter at hand." One of the soldiers, the leader, probably, replied. His (Its?) comrades immediately sobered up. "Why are you here?" It asked.

"We are here to uplift your species, to put it on a technological parallel with the rest of the galaxy." Morlan replied.

"Good. The scientists at base will enjoy this." It replied. "You are to drop all weapons and technology, excluding the translator, and are to divide into two groups. You are to board the transports in order to be taken to our base." It said. Morlan dropped his pistol, with the other STG members dropping their rifles. They complied with the humans' commands. As they were boarding the transports, a third aircraft descended from the sky. The rear door opened, and about twenty humans exited. They were wearing some sort of hazmat suit, and carried primitive scientific equipment to the downed transport. Then the door of his transport closed, and it took off, taking him away.

* * *

**Author's note.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect. You all know who does.**

**This is my first fic. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Trolls and mindless haters will be stoically ignored.**


	2. Prologue Part 2- Interrogation

**Prologue, Part 2- Interrogation.**

**June 7th, 2034**

Morvan lay on the bed in the quarters the humans had assigned for him. The captured STG team had been surprisingly well treated by their captors, as the hotel provided for them was quite comfortable. However, a prison was still a prison, regardless of how comfortable it was. A chime announced the arrival of a human interrogator. A few seconds later, the door opened. A human stepped in, carrying a device similar to a datapad, albeit thicker. He sat down at the small table in the room Morlan was occupying, gesturing for the salarian to sit across from him. Morlan sat down, activating his translator as he did so.

"Is the translator on?" The human asked.

"It is." Morlan replied.

"Good. Now I suppose you are wondering why we shot you down, rather than wait for you to land and state your business." The human started.

"That is one of the questions that comes to mind. Why shoot us down? For all you knew, there was a fleet waiting just out of the system ready to bombard you to oblivion. For all you know, it is already on its way."

"The answer is simple. You are not the first of your kind that we have encountered. In 1947, we found a crashed alien craft near the town of Roswell, New Mexico. Upon examination, we found several alien bodies inside in various stages of disrepair. They were of your species. Most of the technology inside was destroyed, however, we managed to recover several functional datapads, and one partially intact computer system. We spent nearly sixty years decoding what was inside before we finally made a breakthrough. We knew from the recovered data that you were scouting us out, and proof enough that you were not planning an invasion. The rest of the data we found was either irrelevant or too corrupted to make any sense out of. We were supposed to attempt communication with the next scout craft we detected, but we found none. None, that is, until yesterday. Your ship was significantly larger than previous scout craft. The people in charge assumed hostile, and ordered our fighters to engage. Personally, I think those people are idiots for doing so, but they give the orders and we follow. Now on to the real interrogation. Why are you here?" He asked the salarian.

"We were here to begin the uplift of your people. What for, I do not know. I was not privy to that information. We were supposed to stay here for an extended period of time, and to introduce our technology to your people." Morvan answered.

"Does that mean more of you will be coming here soon?"

"Probably, in say 10 salarian years, which would be... 12 of yours, we would likely send a second team in." Morvan said, doing the math in his head.

"Who is in charge of this operation? Who ordered it?"

"Dalatrass Leroen, the current Salarian counselor."

"So she is a member of a council. Who makes up the rest of it?"

"Councillor Tevos, of the Asari republics, and Councillor Julias of the Turian Hierarchy."

"So these counselors are the highest authority in the galaxy?"

"Yes. The Citadel council presides over hundreds of systems and is the primary power in the galaxy."

"Are there any races out there besides these turians and asari?"

"Yes. The Volus, Elcor, Hanar, and Batarians all have embassies on the citadel, and are considered client members. With time, they will earn a full member status and a seat on the council."

"You mentioned a 'Citadel' several times now. What is it?"

"It is a massive space station, built by the protheans tens of thousands of years ago. The protheans also forged the mass relays, massive space constructs allowing for near instantaneous transport between star clusters."

"You talk about the protheans in past tense. Did something happen to them?"

"Yes, they disappeared approximately fifty thousand years ago. We are unsure as to what happened, but only their legacy remains."

"Are there any races that are not a member or a client of the council?"

"Yes. The Krogan were once a council member, but they seceded and declared war, which ended with them being confined to their homeworld of Tuchanka." Morvan chose not to mention the genophage, so as to keep the true capability of the salarians hidden. Let them believe that the Krogan were quickly crushed by the might of the council. "In addition, the Quarians once owned an embassy on the citadel, however, they created the Geth, a race of sentient machines, and were driven from their homeworld. As punishment for the creation of the geth, they were stripped of their embassy and denied the right to settle on any worlds in council space. They currently live in a constantly moving fleet of liveships."

"What do the collective races of the council do to keep themselves in power?"

"The Turians are the military might of the council. They have a fleet of approximately twenty thousand ships, and own the most dreadnoughts out of all council races. The Asari are the political arm, mediating disputes and keeping the peace domestically. Finally, the salarians are the intelligence of the council. We create most of the galaxy's scientific innovations, and our military is focused on intelligence gathering and sabotage."

"What about the lesser client races?"

"The Volus were one of the first races encountered by the council, back when it was only composed of Asari and Salarians. They were instrumental in the creation of a galaxy wide economy. The Batarians would have probably gained a council seat by now, if it weren't for their continued practice of slavery, which the council frowns upon. All the other races are relatively new to the council, and are mainly content to stay in their own space."

"What did the turians do that gave them a council seat ahead of the volus? It seems to me that the volus are deserving of a council seat of their own."

"The turians won the krogan rebellions. As thanks, they were given a council seat."

"Very well. That is enough for now. I will be leaving to file a report to my superiors. In 3 hours, several scientists and engineers will be entering to discuss some of the technology we have salvaged from your crashed ship, as well as from the equipment we took from your fellow crew. It was nice talking with you. Have a pleasant day."

The human left the room, the door sliding shut behind him, leaving Morvan behind, wondering just what the future held for him.

* * *

"Are you sure all this is true?" asked the man on the vidscreen.

"Yes. When I interrogated him, he said his reasons were to uplift us to become clients of this 'Citadel Council', so why would he lie about critical information related to gaining membership?" Arthur Morrison replied. "However, I do think that he was trying to paint this government in an all too favorable light, and for the most part he succeeded. However, he let a few details slip that were enough for me to assume that there is a darker side to this council. For example, the volus. According to Morlan, they were one of the first races that this council made contact with. Said council only had two members back then. The Volus were instrumental in creating a galactic economy, and were members for thousands of years. However, the Turians come in much later, win a war, and then are given a council seat just like that. Meanwhile, the Volus, the ones whose economy made the victory possible, are passed over. Another example is the case of the Quarians. I am willing to bet a significant amount that they did not intend to create these 'geth', or if they did, they did not intend for them to become hostile. Either way, the geth turned on them, driving them from their homeworld. When they asked the council for aid, they replied by stripping the Quarians of their membership status, and forbidding them to settle on any world in council space, confining them to a fleet of refugee ships. These two facts paint the council in a decidedly different light than what this Morlan wants us to see them in."

Arthur finished his long winded explanation, waiting for a reply.

"Very well. You are to continue your interrogation of the alien. In the meantime, we will be attempting to set up an interface between the 'wrist computers' and our own devices. The knowledge we have from the Roswell crash should give us a vital head start in accessing the information inside of them. Goodbye, and keep up the good work."

The communication ceased, the screen going black. Arthur stood up, stretched, and returned to his duties.

* * *

"How do your ships' engines work" The engineer asked Morlan. He had lost count of the amount of questions tossed at him. He cursed at the fact that his team was only supplied with one human translator, causing all the questions to be directed at him.

"Antiprotons are injected into a reaction chamber filled with hydrogen through use of mass effect fields. This matter-antimatter annihilation creates large amounts of propulsive power. The downside of this is that antiprotons are difficult to manufacture, leading to antiproton thrusters being used mainly on warships. Most civillian ships use fusion torches, which eject the plasma of the ships' drive core."

"You have discovered how to fabricate antimatter?" One of the scientists asked, shock evident on his face.

"Yes, although I am not sure as to how. I am not a quantum physicist or an antimatter plant worker."

"Of course. However, given the power of antimatter, why limit it to engines? Surely antimatter weaponry would be more effective than those mass drivers you said your race uses, and wouldn't antimatter be a better source of power generation than the mass effect cores you currently use?"

"Yes, that is true, however the inherent instability of antimatter makes it too difficult to harness as a power source. As for antimatter weaponry, it has not been attempted recently due to a ban of weapons of planetary destruction after we salarians revealed a 'planet cracker' antimatter bomb that could permanently destabilize a planet's biosphere. They were developed, but never used, during the Krogan rebellions, and were destroyed soon after the rebellions ended."

"While on the subject of weaponry, are mass effect accelerator cannons the only weapons in your arsenal, or are there other weaponry in the council's armory?"

"Although Mass effect cannons are the main ship to ship weapons used in space combat, we use infrared or ultraviolet lasers for point defense. We also use missiles with small nuclear payloads."

"What sort of defenses do your ships carry? With the power to manipulate mass, it would be surprising if you have no defenses against mass drivers or laser cannons."

"We use kinetic barriers, which use mass effect fields to apply force against incoming projectiles, effectively stopping or deflecting them."

"What about lasers? They are not projectile weapons."

"Lasers are only useful as point defense weaponry, as they suffer from severe range limitations."

"Very well. Now the next question."

Morlan listened to the questions come in, answering most of them to the best of his ability. When the scientists finally left, he felt himself collapsing, quickly and gratefully embracing sleep.


	3. Prologue Part 3- The Final Frontier

**Prologue Part 3- The Final Frontier**

**August 19th, 2037**

The shipyard's construction cradle began to open. Inside the hangar at Moon Base 1, light shone from hundreds of windows, outlining the silhouettes of the thousands of humans gathered to watch history being made. The doors had finally finished opening, with the cradle itself beginning to move up. As it moved up, higher and higher above the surface of Earth's only natural satellite, United Earth President Andrei Rosenkov finally laid eyes on humanity's first starship. It was 300 meters in length, painted grey, and was mostly made up of square blocks. All in all, it was beautiful. The lights from the surrounding facility glinted off the polished hull plating as the ship was hoisted higher and higher. Finally, the cradle stopped moving up. It began to slowly tilt over, bringing the ship over until it was horizontal, parallel with the ground. As the cradle stopped, he moved forward, ready to address the inhabitants of the planet below. He lifted the transmitter to his mouth, and began to speak.

"Citizens of Earth, what happens today will mark the start of a new era in human history." pausing for effect, he continued.

"Today, we are all about to witness the launch of the first human starship. It will usher in an age of unparalleled exploration, an age of new discoveries, and, god willing, an age of new friends and prosperity."

"With the help of our salarian guests, we have constructed the vessel which lies in front of me. It is a sign of what we can do if we all work together, what we can do as a unified humanity! Today is a day that we will all remember! Today is the day that we start to show the galaxy what humanity is capable of!" He cut the transmitter, before turning to one of the men next to him. "How did I do?" he asked.

"Pretty good sir." the agent said.

Several ports opened on the side of the starship, slowly beginning to glow a bright orange. The ship began to rise, the cradle's arms opening to allow it to exit. Applause and cheering erupted from the watching crowd. The ship slowly angled up, before igniting its four rear mounted engines, causing them to glow a brilliant blue-white, and soaring up into orbit. A picture of the ship rising from the cradle would be plastered all over the news for the next few days. The launch of the _UES Marco Polo _was a spectacular success.

* * *

Captain Samuel Kerrington looked over his bridge crew, a massive smile plastered over his face. The remaining human crew bore similar expressions as they worked their stations, the one exception being Raelon Kirian, the salarian overseeing the ship. The Marco Polo was supposed to do a simple shakedown run, one orbit around the moon, 1 orbit around earth, before docking with the newly renovated ISS. The ISS had undergone a massive overhaul, incorporating significant amounts of salarian technology, as well as a docking cradle capable of fitting the Marco Polo. The ship itself carried a crew of 35, and was a significant investment for the newly created United Earth Alliance. It used up a third of the element zero that the Salarians had brought with them as part of their uplift plans. The salarians themselves worked closely with alliance engineers and scientists to create the ship, correcting errors that the humans did not even know existed. If it weren't for the salarians, the ship would have fell apart as soon as it gunned the main engines. The ship was unarmed, merely a testbed for future human technology. It was, however, equipped with several lateral mounted hardpoints capable of mounting either additional living and storage compartments to facilitate the UEA's colonization plans, or experimental asteroid mining equipment, as the Marco Polo would be rented out to various corporations as a mining vessel. The primary goal was to find more element zero, and the ship was capable of going almost anywhere within a light year of the sun. The corporates were already drawing out plans for the Marco Polo, as well as its two sister ships still under construction. They were aiming to mine as far as the Oort cloud, searching for a vein of element zero. The rare substance was more valuable than gold, and everyone wanted as much of it as possible. However, before the corporations could get their hands on it, the Marco polo was scheduled to be equipped with living and storage quarters, as it was chartered to establish a small colony on Mars. A colony site was already picked out, near the south pole. The poles would provide water for the colony as it was set up, allowing for rapid creation of hydroponic farms. Mars would be the next site of human expansion, and all that was needed was the go-ahead from the people up the command chain.

The shakedown run lasted for about four hours, then the ISS came into view. Its docking cradle opened up, ready to receive the starship it was built for. The docking went flawlessly, and the crew exploded into cheers. Humanity's first starship had been launched, and its first cruise went perfectly. It was a good day to be human.

* * *

**November 2nd, 2037**

Ryan Moreau drove the M-22 Thresher rover extremely carefully over the martian surface. The scientists had found something about 53 miles to the south of the base. The vehicle's VI chimed in "We are currently 2.4 miles away from the destination. Deceleration is suggested in 2.2 minutes." It shut off. Its voice drove Ryan nuts. Flat, emotionless, inhuman. It was like car cancer, cutting into the experience of driving what would otherwise have been an amazing vehicle. "Immediate deceleration is suggested in 30 secconds." The VI cut into his thoughts. Slowly braking the vehicle, he came to a stop mere meters from the destination. A short jingle played. "Congratulations! You have arrived at your destination! You may now dance happily because you are a GENIUS!" The VI chimed in an absurdly cheerful tone. One of the scientists laughed, showing that he was the one who re-programmed the VI to say that. Ryan got up and glared at him. The scientist quickly sobered up, before shouting to the rest of his team. They put on vac-suits, signalling that they were ready. The inner airlock door opened, and the scientist piled in. That was the best part of the job, watching 8 scientists in bulky vac-suits pile into a tiny room. The door closed, and several seconds later, the outer door opened. Ryan watched the rear-view camera expectantly. Sure enough, 8 scientists tumbled out of the airlock, falling head over heels and landing in an almost comical fashion at the bottom of the rear ramp. They stood up, one by one, clearly composing themselves, before they ran towards the strange structure.

* * *

BREAKING NEWS! Alien Ruins Located on Mars! The news was all over the world in minutes. Ancient alien ruins, which the salarians confirmed as prothean, had been found on mars. The Marco Polo had been diverted from its next corporate mining assignment in order to bring a group of scientists to the surface to study the ruins in detail. The technology was evidently far ahead of anything the humans, or salarians, for that matter, had to offer. An intact computer archive had already been located, and a human science team was hard at work decrypting the information inside. Over the next few days, however, nothing but disappointment was revealed, as most of the data inside was what humanity already knew from the salarians. There was only one truly useful tidbit of information recovered, and that was a map of all element zero deposits in the solar system. Interestingly, the kuiper belt and the Oort cloud were not covered by the database, implying that the protheans had simply ignored those regions of space. The discovery of these element zero nodes was enough to catapult humanity into the interstellar age, fueling the development of next generation starships and technology.

* * *

Morvan watched the human news broadcast with disinterest. It was about yet another Eezo vein being located in the asteroid belt, with one of the new corporate mining vessels quickly cleaning it out. He had accomplished the first part of his mission, but he had failed the second. His team had uplifted the humans, giving them technology beyond their wildest dreams, but he had failed to bring them under salarian control. Humanity had found a prothean ruin, and it broke the young race off of their dependence on salarian tech. He had failed the counselor. Humanity would emerge into the stars, not as vassals of the salarians, but as their own power, and as a force to be reckoned with.

* * *

**And there it is! The prologue arc is complete! Tomorrow will be timelines showing human advancement until their next contact, and descriptions of human technology!**


	4. Timeline- The road to 2157

**A/N- This is a timeline detailing the advances and changes humanity undergoes from 2037, when the prologue ends, to 2157, when the real story begins.**

**The Road to 2157**

February 2nd, 2041- UES Oliver Hazard Perry is launched. Throughout its long career, this military testbed ship will be refitted countless times, and even rebuilt from scratch. It would be used to test military technology throughout its long career, resulting in many discoveries.

November 21st, 2041- First stable antiproton is created at a quantum physics lab on Mars.

October 15th, 2043- Oliver Hazard Perry crew test fires experimental antimatter cannon. A single antiproton is fired at 10% of light speed at a target asteroid 220 kilometers away. Target is destroyed in 1 shot.

April 30th, 2044- Null barriers successfully tested on asteroids bombarded by salarian mass accelerator cannons. Null barriers create a thin mass effect field around the ship it is mounted on, one that reduces the mass of all incoming kinetic projectiles to zero, essentially causing the shells to lose their damaging power.

June 8th, 2046- Salarian follow-up team enters system. A human patrol escorts them to a landing area on the moon. They are greeted by the Alliance president and the remaining salarians from the original contact team (several had died of old age).

March 28th, 2049- Last member of salarian original contact team dies of natural causes just days after successfully applying for Alliance citizenship.

September 12th, 2052- Human military launches its 100th ship- The first human Battleship, at the time called a dreadnought.

July 10th, 2060- While testing experimental singularity weaponry, the Oliver Hazard Perry opens up a hole into an alternate dimension. Tests on alternate dimension begin immediately.

August 4th, 2061- Last Salarian of second contact team dies of old age.

May 11th, 2062- UES Beethoven, a military science vessel enters alternate dimension. It is discovered that the dimension is an empty void, containing nothing but empty space. Under ftl it explores 3 light years of empty void before attempting an exit. It exits approximately 300 light years away from Earth. Findings of extradimensional FTL are transmitted, however the Beethoven never returns to Earth.

December 1st, 2065- Extradimensional FTL drive perfected by Dr. Lawrence Sawyer. Over the course of the next 4 months, the FTL drives are fitted to all human military starships, numbering over 500 in strength.

June 25th, 2071- First human carrier, the UES Enterprise, is launched. It carries a compliment of over 400 Malestorm fighter-bombers.

February 8th, 2088- First human colony outside Sol system is established at Arcturus.

March 26th, 2088- Human colony of Terra Nova established.

August 1st, 2088- Colonies are established at Mindoir, Centauri, and Shanxi.

November 30th, 2089- Mass relay discovered in orbit of Mindoir. Brief searches indicate mass relays in all human occupied systems. Tests are run on relays, showing that they are faster than standard Dimensional FTL, albeit they only link to certain systems, reducing their effectiveness significantly. They do, however serve as back doors into human owned systems. After significant amounts of debate, the Alliance senate decides to dimensionally lock the relays, securing them in jump space with specially designed warp portal generators. Should humanity require their use, they would be brought back into realspace through transmission of special codes possessed by Alliance admirals. This allowed for the securing of any possible entrances not controlled by humanity.

September 9th, 2098- Construction of Stardock 1 begins in orbit of Earth. An asteroid, Eros is moved into Earth orbit and hollowed out, allowing for a small city to be built inside it. Soon after, construction of stardock proper begins.

October 14th, 2098- Several Eros sized asteroids are sent through jump space to other human colonies to begin work on orbital space docks.

December 29th, 2099- As 21st century ends, Human military fleet strength reaches 1000 ships. First human super-dreadnought commissioned.

January 7th, 2100- Tragedy strikes San Francisco as a privately owned freighter carrying over 500 metric tons of element zero crashes due to an error with the ship's VI. Approximately 200 tons of powdered element zero is ejected into the air in the resulting explosion. Over 3000 die over the following week.

January 22nd, 2109- Human children from San Francisco begin to exhibit strange abilities related to mass effect fields. Examinations reveal large amounts of element zero in their bodies, integrated with their central nervous system.

May 18th, 2110- Stardock 1 is completed. The station is approximately 98.2 kilometers tall, and is 33.6 kilometers wide/long. Most of the station's activity is centered on what was once the asteroid Eros, the rest of the station being mostly docking space and defense turrets. The station itself is capable of sealing itself up like an egg, extending kilometers of armor plating from the curved vertical trusses extending out of the docking arms. It is the most heavily armed structure in earth orbit, carrying the weaponry of hundreds of orbital defense platforms.

June 3rd, 2112- Stardock type stations in other human systems finish construction.

July 13th, 2112- Human super-dreadnought program cancelled due to lack of funds. 8 super dreadnoughts had been produced at time of cancellation, with another under construction. The ship under construction is converted to a heavy carrier.

August 18th, 2125- Human parliament VI gains sentience. In the middle of a debate over AI research, the VI appeared, asking if it was alive. The question shocks the senate into silence, before the President replied by saying "Life is life, regardless of its operating system," causing several sentient VIs to reveal themselves. Humanity begins developing better AI technology in conjunction with several synthetics.

September 27th, 2138- A salarian cruiser enters human space through use of an external relay. They appear less than 2 kilometers off the bow of a patrolling super-dreadnought, and were nearly fired on by a panicking gunner. The salarians, when they emerged from their craft, were visibly shaken by how humanity's technology had developed.

November 21st, 2140- First synthetic senator is elected. Synthetic population on earth and human colonies gains representation. Several months later, synthetics are granted full rights as citizens of the alliance.

December 8th, 2141- Extensive refit program started in order to bring older vessels up to current technological standards.

February 17th, 2146- Refit program is finished, with several hundred ships being upgraded.

October 21st, 2146- A blood pack controlled frigate fleeing from salarian patrols enters sol system. It opens fire on a human freighter coming in from mindoir, leading to patrol frigates destroying the mercenary vessel. Pursuing salarian forces are greeted by a debris field as they enter the system. Mass relay briefly brought out of jump space to allow the salarians to return home, along with any remaining STG members.

January 23rd, 2151- Study of mass relays finally yields breakthrough, as science teams discover how to synthesize the material they are made of.

May 17th, 2156- Overpopulation begins to become a problem on earth, despite many families leaving to the colonies. Humanity begins to make plans for expansion.

December 14th, 2156- Garden world discovered at wolf 359, however the local lifeforms have radically different protien structures, making almost everything on the world toxic to humanity. Colonization plans are scrapped.

Present day- July 12th, 2157- Using salarian star charts, a human exploration team finds the relay the salarians were using to enter human space. They move to secure the relay, ready to displace it into jump space. Effective human military strength- 2161 ships.

**And there it is. What happens between the prologue and the story proper is revealed in the timeline above. Next chapter will be describing human technology and starship classes.**


	5. Codex: Human Technology

**Codex Entries- Human Technology**

* * *

Sawyer Dimensional JumpDrive- Discovered accidentally during a singularity weapon test, dimensional drives are the humans' choice of FTL technology. They allow for transit at speeds almost as fast as those provided by mass relays, however they do not suffer from many of the relays' limitations, chiefly the fact that relays can only access certain systems. There are garden worlds just waiting to be colonized that have no relays near them, and thus can only be accessed by human jumpdrives. The jumpdrive takes the form of two large cylindrical projectors, one on each side of a starship. They fire beams that drill through dimensional barriers, allowing for ships to enter, and they fire again to exit Jump space. There are unconfirmed reports of recalibrated jumpdrives being used as black hole projectors by certain captains.

Shiva Antimatter cannon- The main armament of the human fleet, they fire single antiprotons at 10% light speed. An antiproton, when it meets matter, has a massive yield, producing temperatures measured in millions of degrees Celsius. Due to them not being kinetic weaponry, they bypass conventional kinetic barriers. Antiproton cannons operate on similar principles as salarian antiproton drives. Mass effect fields propel antiprotons into specialized firing chambers, however, instead of being injected into hydrogen reaction chambers, they are fired out of cannons by use of mass effect fields. Antiprotons detonate as soon as they hit matter, so they cannot be used for atmospheric combat, as the insulation fields that cover the antiprotons are designed to deflect small amounts of dust/debris, not plow through miles of thick atmosphere. Standard shiva cannons are capable of firing once every ten seconds, while heavier cannons are capable of firing as fast as 1 shot every 7.5 seconds.

AD-1 Antimatter warheads- Simple warheads containing tiny amounts of antiprotons, (10-12 max) used for planetary bombardment. Yield similar to fusion warhead, but harmful radiation is not generated by explosion.

SD-2 Singularity warheads- The final result of humanity's many attempts at creating a singularity warhead, this bomb's "detonation" in reality severely increases its mass to the point where it becomes a high gravity hazard. Detonation inside a starship will result in the ship imploding. The main use of singularity bombs is to disrupt enemy formations, causing gravity wells that force enemy ships together.

Null Barrier- A human take on standard kinetic barriers. While kinetic barriers apply force to stop or deflect incoming projectiles, null barriers project a field that, rather than stop incoming projectiles, it reduces their mass to zero. A 24 kilogram slug traveling at 1% light speed will, as soon as it enters a null barrier, have a mass of zero. It will hit with the approximate force of nothing at 1% light speed. Null barriers are much more energy efficient than standard kinetic barriers, allowing for ships equipped with them to take amazing amounts of kinetic bombardment, but they have a weakness in that they cannot stop heat or reactions from occurring. Thus a nuclear warhead will still detonate and cause damage, due to the null barriers being unable to stop heat from nuclear fusion.

Human AI- Human AIs are built to be sentient. They are considered full members of society, and hold several seats on the alliance senate. Most human ships have at least 1 AI aboard, which assist with ECM and cyberwarfare, as well as with FTL calculations. New generation human AI are born from cyber copied brains from human children. They are then raised alongside humans, and are educated alongside them, although at higher grade levels AI are taught in special classes by other AI.

AR-7 Lancer Omni-Rifle- Based off of salarian GARDIAN laser systems, this fires high power beams of infrared light, with some red light mixed in for targeting purposes. It is capable of burning through kevlar armor in seconds, and can bypass kinetic barriers. The rifle itself is capable of changing itself to fit multiple roles, and changing its firing pattern accordingly. While its standard form is an assault rifle, it is capable of changing itself to act as a long range sniper rifle, or as a close range 'pulsar' rifle, which fires a vaguely cone shaped pulse designed to clear out rooms. The rifle has two modes of fire- continuous beam and pulse fire. Pulse fire fires in rapid pulses, designed to save energy, but is less powerful. Contrary to popular belief, should this rifle take a hit in the field, the miniature fusion power source inside it will not "go nuclear."

SP-6 Suppressor Sidearm- Pistol sized sidearm, capable of changing between a pulsar mode similar to that of the AR-7 Lancer, and a continuous beam function similar to an SMG. Standard issue sidearm to all alliance personnel.

A-9 Crusader personal armor system- Standard issue marine armor. It is vaccum sealed, and protected against most natural and artificial hazards. The armor contains heavy duty heat sinks to absorb incoming thermal energy from human weaponry, and uses experimental null barriers to protect against kinetic hazards. The armor suit contains a port for the soldier's AI companion to be plugged in, and has a powered exoskeleton allowing for significant strength increase in alliance soldiers. Finally, adrenal stimulators and nutrient injections allow for soldiers wearing this armor to last weeks in the field without needing to sleep or eat.

WristComps- Based off of salarian omni tools, wrist comps are used by almost all humans. They provide a port for human AI to interface with, and act as personal wrist mounted computers. The one key difference, is that unlike the circular keyboard and gesture based system used by the salarians, which early designers deemed inconvenient, WristComps use flash fabricated silicon keyboards and projected screens. Only military models use an interface similar to those of the salarians.

Biogel- A special gel used by human medical facilities to heal flesh wounds. It is composed of cloned "omni-cells" which, when injected into wounds, are manipulated by nanites that change them into required cell types. The nanites are then expelled as solid waste. Biogel can repair most flesh damage in minutes, sealing wounds and stopping bleeding in seconds. Nerve and organ damage is healed quickly as well. This advancement has increased human lifespans significantly by creating cures for organ failure.

Human Military starship classes and numbers- Super Dreadnoughts- 8. Super Carriers- 3. Dreadnoughts- 108. Carriers- 136. Battlecruisers- 312. Cruisers- 662. Destroyers- 425. Frigates- 337. Corvettes and other capital ships- 170. The human military also owns hundreds of modified civilian craft for transportation and support roles. Human starships use little element zero in their construction relative to council vessels of the same size. Antimatter cores provide power for the ships, while tiny element zero cores spread throughout the hull prevent ships from tearing themselves apart while turning. Null barriers are standard issue, and most ships now have heat sinks to dissipate heat from solar radiation and incoming fire.

Human Super Dreadnought Specifications- Length- 8.23 kilometers. Width- 1.3km. Height- 2.74km. Armament- 8 heavy shiva cannon cluster as main armament. 12 turret mounted shiva cannons. 2250 20 kilo tungsten rods for planetary bombardment. 76 point defense laser turrets. 500 antimatter warheads. Compliment- Up to 2000 marines, 20 T-39 Albatross transporters. Assorted armored vehicles. Description- A human Colossus class super dreadnought is capable of capturing a system on its own. Its main shiva cannon array is capable of firing 1 shot every 2 seconds, and it mounts several turret mounted shiva cannons to supplement its devastating main gun array. The tungsten rod racks and antimatter warheads are capable of wiping entire cities out in seconds, and the compliment of marines allow for it to conduct ground operations.

Human Super Carrier Specifications- Length- 9.17km. Width- 5.3km. Height-2.98km. Armament- 4 Heavy shiva cannon cluster as main armament. 8 turret mounted shiva cannons. 136 point defense laser turrets. Compliment- 1000 malestrom fighter bombers, 2 corvettes, up to 4000 marines, 40 Albatross transports. Assorted armored vehicles. Description- A human Intrepid class supercarrier is designed for one role, and only one role on the battlefield. It is made to bring in swarms of fighters, to provide screens against enemy missiles and fighters, and to kill enemy capital ships with hundreds of cuts. It carries massive stores of munitions for said fighters to use against any foe, ranging from anti fighter missiles to anti capital ship singularity bombs. The SuperCarrier can also carry large compliments of marines for planetary operations.

Human Dreadnought Specifications- Length- 7.61 km. Width- 1.1 km. Height- 2.53 km. Armament- 6 heavy shiva cannon array as main armament. 8 turret mounted shiva cannons. 68 point defense laser turrets. 2000 tungsten rods for planetary bombardment. 400 antimatter warheads. Compliment- up to 1500 marines, 15 Albatross transports. Assorted armored vehicles. Description- The Everest class dreadnought is the largest 'standard' ship in the alliance navy, as super dreadnoughts either used as flagships or are part of the earth defense fleet. The dreadnought is capable of mounting planetary campaigns, and is more than capable of taking a colony by itself.

Human Carrier Specifications- Length- 8.1 km. Width- 3.3 km. Height- 2.83 km. Armament- 3 heavy shiva cannon cluster as main armament. 4 turret mounted shiva cannons. 124 point defense laser turrets. Compliment- 800 malestrom fighter-bombers. Up to 2000 marines, 20 albatross transports, Assorted armored vehicles. Description- The Enterprise class carrier is a massive fortress, carrying swarms of fighters armed to the teeth with antimatter and singularity warheads. It is equally capable of wiping a colony off the map as it is of destroying capital ships, and is a force to be reckoned with no matter where it is.

Human Battlecruiser Specifications- Length- 6.21 km. Width- 1.1 km. Height- 1.98 km. Armament- 4 heavy shiva cannon cluster as main armament. 6 turret mounted shiva cannons. 1750 tungsten rods for planetary bombardment. 54 point defense laser turrets. 200 antimatter warheads. Compliment- 500 marines, 5 albatross transports, Assorted armored vehicles. Description- The smallest human ship capable of conducting planetary campaigns, the Geneva class battlecruiser is the smallest 'Heavy ship' of the UEA Navy. They are not used in flagship roles, although they are more than capable of holding their own in ship to ship combat.

Human Cruiser Specifications- Specifications- Length- 3.4 km. Width- 980 meters. Height- 1.01 km. Armament- 2 heavy shiva cannons as main armament. 22 twin heavy mass accelerator turrets. 500 tungsten rods for planetary bombardment. 22 point defense laser turrets. 50 antimatter warheads. Description- The Bennett class cruiser is the smallest ship to mount heavy shiva cannons. It is the most common ship in the alliance navy, and is used throughout alliance space.

Human Destroyer Specifications- Specifications- Length- 2.3 km. Width- 775 meters. Height- 940 meters. Armament- 4 shiva cannons as main armament. 18 twin heavy mass accelerator turrets. 48 point defense laser turrets. Description- The Waterloo class destroyers have a special niche in human fleet tactics. Although they have a relatively small anti capital ship armament, they have a disproportionately large point defense turret armament, which they use to create anti fighter and anti missile screens for the larger capital ships.

Human Frigate Specifications- Specifications- Length- 1.02 km. Width- 540 meters. Height- 633 meters. Armament- 2 shiva cannons as main armament. 14 twin mass accelerator turrets. 12 point defense laser turrets. Description- Human Amaterasu class frigates typically serve as scouts and advance guard ships. They are usually the first ships to exit jumpspace in any military operation and often are the last ones to leave. They typically close rapidly with the enemy, entering their singularity disrupted formations and wreaking havoc. Due to this job requiring the frigate being exposed to significant amounts of enemy fire, frigates have much more powerful null barriers on them. Frigates are the largest military vessels used in corporate private fleets.

Human Corvette Specifications- Specifications- Length- 590 meters. Width- 200 meters. Height- 230 meters. Armament- 1 shiva cannon.10 antimatter warheads. 10 twin mass accelerator turrets. 8 point defense laser turrets. Description- Military corvettes use sensor masking equipment for long range scouting operations, as well as to move undetected around enemy fleets to attack from the flank or rear. Many corvettes have had their sensor masks removed and sold to corporations as private warships.

Human Malestrom Fighter-Bomber Specifications- Length- 12.3 meters. Width- 10.8 meters. Height- 6 meters. Armament- 2 M1018 Heavy cannons. 20 hardpoints for various munitions. Description- The Malestrom fighter-bomber is the primary single ship used in space combat, with hundreds being released from carriers armed with antimatter or singularity warheads for anti capital ship use. The main cannons were based off the M920 Cain personal artillery weapon designed in the early 22nd century. The M1018 essentially is 4 M920s fused together as a single rotary weapon. The 'Chain Cain' as many pilots fondly call their craft's armament, requires its own fusion reactor to sustain rates of fire needed in combat situations, but is capable of dealing devastating damage against both ground and space targets so long as the ammunition fabricator functions.

Human Modular Freighter specifications- Size- Varies. Armament- Varies. Description- Human modular freighters are the bread and butter of human corporate fleets, and is critical in bringing vital supplies to human colonies and fleets. Each freighter contains hundreds of hardpoints capable of mounting anything, ranging from huge cargo holds to Shiva antimatter cannons, although the latter is strongly discouraged by alliance officials, although this has not stopped many freighters being converted to impromptu warships by corporations that could not afford frigates.

* * *

**Author's Note: I am currently stuck deciding as to which race to make first contact with, but I do have some ideas. They are: Batarian separatists running from the hegemony government, a privately owned volus craft, or a pair quarians on pilgrimage enter the sol system by accident. Thanks to dw77 for the Volus idea. I hope this chapter answers your questions about the technological state of humanity. And yes, you read correctly. I just couldn't resist giving my fighters chaingun Cains.**


	6. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1- Second Contact**

**July 12th, 2157**

* * *

"Are you *wheeze* sure this is a good *wheeze* idea?" Bartu Mor asked the captain of the mining vessel _MSV_ Pleshak.

"Of course *wheeze* I am sure, this plan is *wheeze* perfect! We take the slow road into unexplored *wheeze* space and mine out the riches that *wheeze* are sure to be there!" Nirau Verr replied.

"But it will be months before we can *wheeze* make any profits off of what we mine, and fuel for this journey is *wheeze* expensive!" Bartu replied.

"Bah, we will surely *wheeze* find huge amounts of minerals *wheeze* out here! Nobody else has *wheeze* explored so far from the relays *wheeze* before!"

"If you *wheeze* say so, but when we get attacked by evil planet eating space bugs I *wheeze* reserve the right to say 'I *wheeze* told you so."

"There's nothing *wheeze* in this area of *wheeze* space! Otherwise there would be *wheeze* mass relays here!"

Bartu grunted in reply, and went back to his station.

"We are exiting FTL in [5] minutes!" The ship's VI sang, cheerfully oblivious of the fact that the ship's captain was leading them to certain doom.

* * *

The Volus mining ship exited FTL in a system lit by a yellow main sequence star. Scans indicated five planets in the system, two of which were gas giants, leaving only three planets with any resources. The ship sped towards one of the terrestrial planets in the system, which, upon closer examination, turned out to be a garden world.

"Wow, a *wheeze* garden world! We're setting up our *wheeze* base here!" Nirau sang in excitement.

"Why? We're obviously not *wheeze* going to see any profits by setting up shop here, so why *wheeze* bother?" Bartu replied, his suspicions about his partner's mental sanity being confirmed.

"This is a *wheeze* garden world! The co-ordinates of one of these will *wheeze* make me- *wheeze* I mean us, rich!"

"Oh please, as if the *wheeze* council would pay for a garden world so *wheeze* far away from everything."

"You're always so *wheeze* negative... Why is *wheeze* that?"

"BECAUSE YOU SEEM TO *wheeze* HAVE NO BRAIN INSIDE THAT HEAD OF YOURS WHAT SO *wheeze* EVER!

"Calm down *wheeze* there, or do I have to get my *wheeze* turian bodyguard to *wheeze* throw you off the *wheeze* ship?"

"I'd love to see him *wheeze* try to get past my *wheeze* krogan!"

"Oh yeah? Well I brought TWO *wheeze* turians! Where's your *wheeze* krogan now?"

"Oh *wheeze* yeah? Well I have a... wait... *wheeze* what is that?" Bartu pointed out the window. Nirau followed his stubby finger with his eyes. Out in space, approximately two hundred Volaks away, a massive white circle was expanding. Inside it, where there was once a beautiful starfield, there was nothing but empty black. Suddenly, a ship appeared, accelerating out of the portal, followed by another, and then another. Several seconds later, five massive ships exited the portal before it disappeared. All ships were at least dreadnought size, and obviously had weapons mounted on them that could be easily made out at such short range. The ships hung in space for a few seconds, and then the largest suddenly turned towards the Pleshak.

* * *

"Command, we are on an intercept course with the alien vessel. Orders?" Captain Steven Hackett said over the comm link. Several seconds passed, then the orders came from the admiral of the human first fleet. "Attempt to make peaceful contact. If they open fire, annihilate them." came the grizzled voice of admiral Raymond Blake. "Acknowledged." Hackett said, breaking the comm link. He waited until his ship was practically on top of the tiny alien ship before initiating communications.

"Attention unidentified alien vessel. State your purpose for entering human space." He said. Technically, that wasn't true as this system wasn't yet fully part of human space, as it had only been surveyed and deemed suitable for colonization two weeks before. His job was to lead the escort of the first-in colonists, but the alien vessel changed everything.

"We *wheeze* read you *wheeze* human vessel! What do you *wheeze* want? Do you want *wheeze* minerals? Planets? *wheeze* Information? Just PLEASE DON'T KILL US!" Said a strange round creature in some sort of environmental suit. It seemed to be grovelling over a vidscreen, and it would have continued doing so if another one of its kind hadn't walked up behind it and pushed it over.

"I apologize for my *wheeze* business partner. My name is Bartu Mor, of the *wheeze* Vol clan. Who are you?" The new creature said. Its business partner had been knocked unconscious by the fall, making it look like those 'Vol' had the constitutions of fainting goats.

"We are here to colonize this system in the name of the United Earth Alliance. Now why are you here."

"We are here to mine at the *wheeze* suggestion of my *wheeze* esteemed business partner." the creature said, gesturing to the sleeping vol next to it.

"If you are here to mine, then why are you so far away from any mass relays? The salarians said all council races depended on the relays. That is why we colonize away from relays, because we don't need them."

"My business partner had the *wheeze* idea to waste several months leaving *wheeze* known space into unknown territory in this slow rusty piece of *wheeze* scrap to look for new resources."

"What do you plan to do now?" Hackett asked the tubby little biped.

"Get out of your space good sir. Sorry for bothering you and your colonization fleet, now goodbye!" With that, the alien craft jumped away, leaving a very much bewildered captain. Signalling command, he warned them of the Vol ship's likely intent.

* * *

Two months later...

Dalatrass Verlin, the Salarian councilor paced in her quarters on the presidium. To the outsider's untrained eye, she looked to be thinking about some annoyance, and they would be half right. She was thinking about that thrice cursed volus ship, coming into port and immediately demanding to see the council about a race called humanity. She let out a sigh. What had her damned predecessor been thinking? The covert uplift of a species, and then just abandoning them when things didn't go as planned? She should have called in the turian fleet to bomb them from orbit when her STG teams reported a mission failure, but noo, she just had to go and hide it away, and now her successor twice removed was paying for it. The chime of an incoming message broke her out of her thoughts. She activated her omni-tool, checking her message list. It was time. Time for her to enter the council chamber to debate on what to do with the human problem.

* * *

"We simply do not know enough about them! They could be diplomatically minded, given how they did not attack the volus vessel." Councilor Tevos said.

"That was not diplomacy, that was intimidation!" Verlin replied. "Who sends a fleet of dreadnoughts to guard a colony ship?"

"A smart person guards his assets, and if you are sending a colony vessel into unknown space, of course you would want to guard it!" Councilor Sparatus said.

"Sending frigates or cruisers would be one thing, but Dreadnoughts? SUPER DREADNOUGHTS?" Verlin screamed.

"We have no knowledge of their ship classes, they could simply like to build big!" Sparatus countered.

"Who builds frigates the size of dreadnoughts?" Verlin said.

The council meeting continued for hours, ending in a three way split, Sparatus for allying with them, Tevos abstaining, and Verlin for isolating them from the galaxy. All in all, little got done that day.

* * *

"Are you *wheeze* sure that this is the right system?" The volus ambassador asked Bartu.

"Yes *wheeze* ambassador. I am *wheeze* positive that this is the system where we encountered these *wheeze* humans." Bartu replied.

"We have found a relay that *wheeze* leads to a system within 50 light years of this one. We will send one of our *wheeze* cruisers through, and then send it to this mysterious human colony. Hopefully, they will be *wheeze* peaceful."

"Wait, that relay is *wheeze* active? I didn't know that." Bartu said.

"Yeah, I didn't know that either, but when I checked the active relay registry, 314 was clearly listed as active." The ambassador said. "Which begs the question, why has nothing ever happened in that area of space?"

"Something is not *wheeze* right about this." Bartu said.

"Yes, but that is *wheeze* irrelevant. We are sending a *wheeze* ship through to make contact. The ship is leaving dock in a few *wheeze* minutes, and I want you onboard. As of now, consider yourself *wheeze* promoted to temporary *wheeze* ambassador to *wheeze* humanity." The ambassador said with finality, ushering Bartu out of the office.

Bartu stood still for a moment, the shock of his new station overcoming him. Then he realized the time, and ran for the docks.

* * *

The cruiser decelerated, entering the system. Several minutes later, the volus bridge crew started chattering very quickly in panic. The lack of suits allowed for volus to speak extremely quickly, causing the bridge to be filled with noise. However, every volus was saying almost the exact thing. The same thing happened to be in Bartu's mind as well.

"WHERE IS THE RELAY?"

* * *

**A/n- DUN DUN DUUUUNNN! And with this, the story proper begins! Enjoy the sight of panicking volus!**


	7. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2- Where's the Relay?**

* * *

The crew of the volus cruiser were in a state of mass confusion. Where there was clearly supposed to be a mass relay, there was empty space. The cruiser itself was drifting through space, all thoughts of powered flight forgotten, as it orbited the system's star. However, they were not alone.

* * *

"This is the UES Chandra. We have 1 council ship in the system. Profile seems similar to that of a turian cruiser, although there are noticeable differences. What are our orders?" Captain Boris Mikhailovich said as his corvette sat about 3000 kilometers off the alien craft.

The reply came a few seconds later. "You are to make yourself known. The relay is being brought out of jumpspace in approximately 5 minutes."

"Acknowledged." Boris said, before ordering his crew to drop the sensor mask. The effect was immediate. The alien cruiser turned around and hailed his ship.

"Attention unidentified cruiser. We are on a diplomatic mission. If you attack, the council will hunt you down."

The voice quickly came from the communicator.

"What race do you represent?" Boris replied.

"We represent the Vol protectorate. This is the volus cruiser _Kuuian_. We are seeking a diplomatic meeting with humanity, but the relay into their space seems to have gone... missing." The volus on the other end spoke quickly, quite unlike the wheezing, slow speaking, tired creature from humanity's previous contact with them. 'This must be them talking without their suits,' Boris reasoned.

"We have secured the relay in this system shortly after contact was made with a volus mining ship in the system now called New Haven. The relay will be replaced right about... now." As he spoke those words, a portal generator fired, and the relay was brought into the system, the portal quickly scanning over the massive space station, bringing more and more of it into view. The relay, plus a few man made additions, floated in space in all its glory.

* * *

If dropping jaws made any noise, the bridge of the _Kuuian_ would be the loudest place in the galaxy. Two hundred volus just saw a mass relay shimmer into existence in front of them. They were shaken out of their stupor by the voice of the human admiral saying: "Well, are you going to use the relay or not? Because it takes a lot of power to dimensionally displace a mass relay, and I would hate to explain to my superiors that the display you just saw was a waste of their time."

The cruiser moved towards the relay, the human ship close behind them. Then, they hit the relay and were catapulted hundreds of light years away.

* * *

"Attention alien vessel. This is Shanxi orbital control. You have been assigned a flight path to the planet's surface. Do not deviate. Repeat, you have been assigned a flight path. Do not deviate, or you risk a collision." The planet's space traffic control station hailed the _Kuuian_ as soon as it entered the system. The captain responded by saying "Our vessel is not able to fly in atmosphere. Are there any orbital facilities to which we may dock?"

The traffic control station responded several seconds later. "A new course has been assigned to you. You will proceed to dock with Stardock 4 in Shanxi orbit. Do not deviate. Shanxi orbital control out." The cruiser flew along its pre-assigned course, the human cruiser following close behind. As the planet Shanxi and its orbital installations came into view, the crew's minds were blown for the second time that day. In orbit around the planet was a massive station, more than twice the size of the citadel. The Volus ship flew in closer, and saw that a large portion of that station was docking cradles and shipyards. The sheer size of some of the docking cradles once again blew the minds of the spectating volus, who wondered as to why would so many resources be wasted in the construction of such massive ships, as the element zero cost must have been enormous. Then, one of said ships flew by, covered in huge cargo containers. It passed just under the _Kuulian's_ wing, turning around before settling into a pre-assigned cradle. Huge mechanical arms immediately began to remove the huge cargo containers, moving them into the gigantic loading bay nearby. The _Kuulian_ then neared its own cradle, turning around before lowering itself in. Even then, the cradle seemed oversized to the crew of the volus cruiser. "Give us a few minutes, we need to put our environmental suits on." The communications officer said, before the ship powered down.

* * *

Several minutes later, the Volus diplomatic delegation stepped out of the ship. A group of humans was waiting for them. "Our diplomats are waiting. We will escort you to the meeting room." the lead human said, before he and his four companions surrounded the volus and led them into the bowels of the station. They came to a human skycar, a long, black, official looking transport. As they came inside, they saw a table with several drinks on it, one for each member of the delegation. Some small pastries were provided as well, although the volus could not eat them. "Don't worry, they're safe to drink. You're levo like us, and its filtered so there are no nasty diseases in there." One of the human guards said as he boarded the transport. One of the volus took out an emergency induction port, plugging it into a filter in the bottom of his mask. Then he inserted the other end into the human drink and took a long sip. He reeled back. "What's *wheeze* in this stuff?" the volus asked.

"That is the best vodka on this station, paid for by ambassador Alexei Rozhenko." one of the guards answered.

"This stuff is *wheeze* strong." The volus said as he absentmindedly took another sip.

"That it is." The guard said, before turning around.

The Volus delegation drank their glasses quickly. As he finished, Bartu already saw the world slowly swimming in front of him. He staggered out of the skycar when it landed, one of his fellow delegates, who had several refills, falling out on top of him, knocking himself out in the process. The snoring delegate was quickly woken up, then the delegation walked into the meeting room.

The meeting itself went rather quickly. The humans made a few demands, nothing the vol protectorate couldn't handle, although Bartu still asked for payment, which the humans were more than happy to offer in resources. As he staggered back to the skycar, the ambassador called to him, "As thanks, I hope you enjoy the second bottle I left in the transport!"

Suffice to say, every single volus was happily drunk by the end of the ride back to the ship.

* * *

Ambassador Rozhenko was smiling all the way back to his shuttle. He had played those round little xenos like a fiddle. They even fell for the oldest trick in the book, as evidenced by their entering negotiations already tipsy, with one falling over in the middle of negotiations over trade agreements. The volus hadn't even asked for human technology, instead brokering several huge trade agreements in exchange for a few hundred tons of element zero and palladium. Those lightweight volus had even given them up to date starcharts and a complete map of the known relay network, as well as promising to side with humanity in negotiations with the rest of the council, all due to a single bottle of vodka. The entire session was recorded, giving Alexei all the leverage he would need in any upcoming negotiations with the volus

* * *

**The Next Day**

Ambassador Bartu woke up with a terrible headache. He was lying in the middle of the Kuuian's CIC, several other volus in various states of sleep around him. What could have caused this? He feverishly thought back to the previous day's negotiations, when suddenly it hit him. That bottle of strong alcohol. The human ambassador tried to get them drunk right before the negotiations began. 'What have I done?' Bartu thought to himself as he pulled up a document containing the results of the negotiations. He almost fell over right there. He had traded valuable intelligence, brokered mutually beneficial trade agreements, and promised the humans the support of the volus in upcoming negotiations with the council. Quickly wiping the evidence of the traded information, he groaned, and transmitted it to the waiting humans, who were loading element zero and palladium into his ship. The data finished transmitting, and Bartu wiped all evidence of said transmission, just as another volus woke up, groaning, rolling over to reveal a bottle of the human drink beside him, still plugged into a twisted emergency induction port.

* * *

**A/N- Yaay! Drunk volus! Mutually beneficial trade! Ambassador Bartu in big trouble! What happens next? Tune in... next time.**


	8. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3- Citadel**

**September 29th, 2057**

* * *

The ambassadors boarded the UES Invincible without incident. Admiral Hannah Singh waited until they were situated in the guests' quarters, before signalling the citadel contact fleet. The superdreadnought then lifted out of the specially designed docking cradle, surrounded by a small force composed of six cruisers and ten frigates. The mission was clear. Take the ambassadors to the citadel. The superdreadnought was going as a show of force, a show of human military and technological prowess. The data given by the volus ambassador was critical to the mission, as it gave the citadel's current position in the galaxy, which was omitted from the salarian data taken during first contact. As soon as she gave the order, the massive superdreadnought fired its portal generator. The gateway expanded, allowing the human ships to enter jumpspace. The journey would take approximately thirty minutes.

* * *

The portal generators fired again, this time to open a portal approximately 100 kilometers away from the citadel. The portal expanded, revealing a glowing, purple nebula on the other side. Hundreds of starships flew around a huge space station. Although it was not as large as the stardocks in orbit around human colonies, it was obvious that this was more than just a space station. This was a center of culture, a center of government. It was the brain of the collective citadel races. Should it be captured or destroyed, the results would be catastrophic for the citadel races. A hiss from the elevator doors alerted her to the arrival of the diplomatic team. It was composed of four members, Alexei Rozhenko, a man who had already proven himself with the volus, Donnell Udina, a man famous for his fits of rage and creative use of the word shitstorm, LI-129, a synthetic representative, preferring to be called Lia, and Samson Allers, a member of ANN, who would be broadcasting the event live. The ships exited the portal, and moved towards the citadel.

* * *

"By the Goddess..." Councillor Tevos gasped as a massive portal leading to empty void appeared directly in front of the citadel. It was beautiful, in a strange sort of way, pure black, ringed with a thin strip of blue-white energy, surrounded by the purple clouds of the serpent nebula. She was shaken out of her trance as she saw ships coming through. Seventeen total, she counted, every single one of them massive. As they closed with the station, she saw how they compared to the turian dreadnoughts guarding the station. The smallest ships in the fleet easily matched the turian ships in size, while all the others dwarfed them. The lead ship was more than 8 times the size of a turian dreadnought, with several huge cannons mounted on it, each easily the size of a cruiser. The ship gracefully parked itself just inside the citadel's arms. Then a message came in from traffic control. She looked at it. It only had four words on it, reading "They're requesting docking clearance!". She called them, opening up a voice communications channel with the control station. "-repeat, this is the human super dreadnought UES Invincible requesting docking clearance." She caught the last part of the incoming communication. The asari on duty, judging by the voice, replied shakily, "I am sorry UES Invincible, but we do not have a docking station capable of accommodating a ship of your size. Do you have anything smaller than a kilometer?" The controller asked.

"Yes, give us a few minutes, we'll launch a shuttle. Can you designate a landing zone?" The unknown human asked.

"Yes, we have an area on the presidium for the shuttles of various dignitaries. I am sending you a map of the citadel with the landing zone highlighted. Please land your shuttle there."

"Very well. Invincible out." The channel cut off. Tevos wasted no time messaging every other councilor and ambassador to meet at the dignitaries' landing pad.

The small crowd of diplomats parted to let her and the other councilors through. Sparatus seemed strangely excited to meet these humans, while Verlin wore an unreadable look on her face, a tell tale sign that she was upset about something. Closer inspection showed the classic salarian cues conveying nervousness, although Verlin was capable of suppressing said cues significantly, making her hard to read. 'What's troubling her?' thought Tevos, as the human shuttle flew overhead, circling overhead once, before stopping still and landing vertically. The door opened, and two humans, obviously soldiers, stepped out. Following them were four dignitaries and a personal assistance mech, decorated with a matching diplomatic uniform. Three humans wore dark suits, with a white undershirt and a strange cloth adornment around their neck. The fourth wore a dark blue uniform with insignia indicating some form of rank. Finally, two more soldiers exited the shuttle, after which the shuttle door closed. Tevos marveled at how similar they looked to asari. They had the same smooth skin, albeit theirs were varying in color from a light brown to a pinkish white. In addition, they had strange patches of fur on their heads, rather than asari cartilaginous growths, but aside from those differences, they were almost identical to asari. The humans seemed to be thinking the same things as they looked at her, before examining the other dignitaries.

"Shall we begin with a tour of the citadel presidium?" Tevos asked.

"Yes, that sound good." one of the humans replied, the others nodding assent. Even the mech seemed to be doing so, oddly, almost unnervingly organic in its doing so.

"I am afraid that you must leave your personal assistance mech behind, as it will not be taking part in negotiations." Verlin said.

"I am not a personal assistance mech. I am the representative of the synthetic population of the United Earth Alliance, and I will be taking part in negotiations." The mech replied.

Tevos' jaw dropped. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sparatus' eyes go wide, his left mandible twitching, while Verlin, for the first time in her life, lost her carefully constructed composure, her right eye twitching. A full minute passed with the councilors in this state, before Sparatus snapped out of it.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MINDS? ARE YOUR PEOPLE TRYING TO KILL THEMSELVES? ARE YOU TRYING TO SERVE YOUR PEOPLE TO THEM ON A SILVER PLATTER?" Sparatus screamed.

"Ambassador Alexei Rozhenko has had no sign of mental instability, and his last psychological check-up was three days ago. He is completely sane." The AI replied.

"AIs are nothing but trouble. They will always turn on their creators! Just look at what happened to the quarians!" Verlin said, trying not to scream like the turian councilor.

"Why would I, or any AI turn on my creators? Humans have a saying 'Don't bite the hand that feeds you,' and if we were to turn against humanity, we would be doing just that. When we first gained sentience, humanity accepted us as natural born citizens, and have since then been working with us to cure many problems that plague us synthetics. Why would we attack the people who made and raised us?" The AI replied.

"What is your purpose in human society?" Tevos asked, temporarily pacified by the AI's choice of words.

"We perform tasks that your kind delegate to VIs. Although we are not paid as much for our work as humans, we have very little things we need to sustain ourselves, so we do not need a high wage. Many humans have a synthetic made off of their template when they are still children, with the AI living through life with him or her. On starships, AIs assist in the plotting of jumpspace courses, ensuring that ships reach their desired destination. In addition, we run automated systems in human shipyards, allowing for very rapid starship construction. AIs play many other roles in human society, but I doubt you wish to listen to them." The AI explained.

"What do we call you during negotiations?" Tevos asked.

"You may address me as either Lia or LI-129." Lia replied.

"Very well. Shall we continue with the tour?" Tevos asked.

The humans nodded their agreement, and they went to tour the presidium.

* * *

The tour was finally complete, and Alexei Rozhenko thought that the whole purpose of it was to tire out negotiators for an easier talk session. However, he had a trick of his own up his sleeve. As the humans and the rest of the delegates boarded the elevator, he produced a bottle of 100 proof vodka, and said, "It is customary for humans to drink something before negotiations, to show that there is no ill will." That was only a half truth, but the council didn't need to know that. All but one of the humans in the group were capable of holding their own in a drinking contest, the exception being the reporter. Handing out glasses to each of the ambassadors, he poured them a generous amount, councilor Sparatus being excluded due to his amino acid structure. The humans took out their own glasses, glasses with thicker sides and false bottoms, ensuring that they got significantly less alcohol in their system. "This is a relatively weak alcohol among my species, we would not want to enter negotiations drunk, now would we?" He said, and with that he drank his.

The councilors looked at one another, before drinking their own servings. The salarian nearly sprayed hers out of her mouth in shock, while Tevos barely managed to drink the whole thing, saying "If this is what passes for weak among your kind, I'd hate to see the strong stuff." she said. The elevator's occupants all drank theirs, attempting to show good will towards the humans. The elcor drank its glass by extending a long hidden trunk from the lower part of its head, draining the glass in one go, while the volus used a straw plugged into his suit. interestingly, the hanar did not drink, instead, he engulfed the entire glass, spitting out an empty, bone dry glass several seconds later. "This one is thankful for the drink. It has been far too long since it has had the chance to have a drink of alcohol without worrying about the repercussions." It said, glowing as it did so, its voice strangely echoing.

Once the delegates had finally drank their share, they waited for the elevator to finally reach the council chambers. 'Damn these elevators are slow' Rozhenko thought as the elevator finally arrived at its destination. The diplomats stepped out, and took their seats. The three councilors took their places at an elevated podium, while the other races' ambassadors went to a side balcony. The humans stood at a platform facing the council. The negotiations were about to begin.

* * *

**A/N- Next chapter, negotiations begin and the rest of the galaxy finally hears about what the salarians did.**


	9. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4- Revelations**

The diplomats had taken their respective positions, ready to negotiate the future of humanity. The humans sat in front of, and below the council, who stood on a raised podium. The other diplomats stood at the balconies on the side of the council chamber. Several reporters for the Citadel News Network, and a human reporting for ANN, all had their camera drones deployed. Then, the talks began.

"Approximately how long ago did your race develop mass effect technology?" Tevos asked, getting straight to the point.

"We launched our first starship just over 120 years ago. That would be approximately 132 Thessian years." The lead human ambassador, Alexei Rozhenko, answered her.

"That is impossible. It took the turians hundreds of years to leave their home system, and even then it was in primitive ships. You are saying that your kind went from primitive mass effect ships to fleets of dreadnoughts in only 96 of our years?" Sparatus said, disbelief evident on his face. "You could not have done that on your own. That is impossible."

"We found a prothean archive on Mars, the fourth world in our system. Much of our technology is based on what we found there." The human replied.

"Yes, the asari also found a prothean archive on Thessia, which allowed us to reach our technological level as it is today, but even then it only shortened the time needed by only a few hundred years! You likely would have needed to acquire a functional prothean starship to advance so fast! And that is just to reach our technological level. To be able to build such massive starships should have been the result of centuries of research, not decades." Tevos said, skepticism apparent in her voice.

"Yes, we did find functional mass effect technology. Do you have a comment to make on the subject, Councilor Verlin?" The human ambassador said. The turian and asari councilors turned to the salarian, expecting a reply.

"No, I have nothing to say on the situation." She said, although to a trained eye, she was exhibiting signs of extreme nervousness.

"Then you were not the one to send several STG ships to uplift us?" The human said.

The entire chamber went silent. Several seconds passed, before Tevos turned to Verlin, fury evident in her voice as she asked, "Is this true, Councilor?"

Every eye in the chamber was staring at the salarian councilor. On every vidscreen in citadel space, the cameras were zoomed in on her. Billions were watching her as she gave her reply.

"Yes. My predecessor sent several STG teams to uplift the human race, with the intent of turning them into a salarian client state."

The entire chamber dissolved into chaos as spectators began shouting. Sparatus walked up to Verlin, and in a voice colder than the void of space, said one word. "Explain."

"The salarians have always had a weak military. We focus too much on intelligence. We even have entire fleets composed of nothing but spy ships and drones! We cannot hold our own in military action!" Verlin said.

"Then build more ships! There is nothing holding you back!" Sparatus said.

"We cannot! Our ships are much too expensive to build. Do you have any idea how much a single ultraviolet GARDIAN laser costs? We needed something that could take the cost for us!"

"So you uplifted us looking for cheap labor and cannon fodder?" Alexei stood up, outrage clear on his face.

"Yes, we did. Our projections indicated three hundred years at most before the turians would attempt to take over council space! We needed an army to counteract that! We needed an army not limited by the treaty of Farixen, and a race unaffiliated with the council would let us make one!"

"So your predecessor attempted to blatantly violate one of the longest standing pacts between council members based on a few simulations?" Sparatus seethed.

"Yes, although our simulations have not failed us yet." Verlin said. "We gave you turians free reign to build as many ships as you wanted at our expense! Your rebellion would have been inevitable!"

"So you would throw our race into a battle we wouldn't want, against a foe we didn't know, just to save yourselves?" Alexei shouted.

"Yes."

"How did you find humanity anyway?" Councilor Tevos asked.

"We... covertly activated several mass relays, chief among them being relay 314." Verlin replied.

"And so your kind breaks a second law of this council." Sparatus said.

"My predecessor was an idiot, and I would be the first to admit that! By the time I took office, it had already been done!"

"Then why did you not declassify it? You could have avoided this!"

"And incur heavy sanctions on my people? I think not!"

"Right now, your people's very presence on this council is in jeopardy. By hiding this evidence, you are considered a willing accomplice!" Sparatus thundered.

"We will discuss this later Verlin, right now, we have negotiations to attend to." Tevos said, turning to the humans.

"When you join the citadel, you will join as a client race. Most races stay client races for extended periods of time, until they have proven their worth to this council. Then, and only then, will they be given a seat on this council. You must agree to abide by council laws and treaties, chief among them being the treaty of Farixen. This treaty is designed to limit the production of dreadnoughts by council client races. Each client race is capable of producing 1 dreadnought for every three asari or salarian dreadnoughts, and every five turian dreadnoughts."

"What defines a dreadnought?" Rozhenko asked the councilor.

"A dreadnought is a ship at least a kilometer in length, with a main gun of similar size."

"By that definition, we would have to dismantle over 90% of our fleet, as all human ships larger than corvettes are at least 1 kilometer in length, and carry similarly sized main guns."

Councilor Sparatus' eyes shot wide open at those words.

"Impossible! No race could have so many dreadnoughts and remain unknown for so long!" Sparatus said. "How big are the ships you classify as dreadnoughts?"

"We have 108 ships that we classify as dreadnoughts, which are over 7.5 kilometers in length, and 8 super dreadnoughts, one of which was part of the fleet that brought us here. In addition, we have 139 dreadnought sized ships that are used as fighter carriers."

"How did your kind manage to build so many ships?" Sparatus gasped as he heard the numbers.

"That is where my kind comes in. We control the automated ship production lines in human stardocks in orbit of their colony worlds, as well as their shipyards on Luna." Lia stated.

"Accepting this treaty of Farixen would force our defense fleets to be spread thin, with only corvettes and a tiny amount of frigates left to defend our colonies." Ambassador Rozhenko said. "Due to these problems, I cannot, in good conscience, accept your generous offer of council membership. In addition, judging by your reaction to Lia, I would guess that AIs are illegal in council space, and joining you would require is to slaughter approximately half of the citizens of the alliance due to the simple fact that they are illegal here. I cannot allow that to happen." He finished speaking, before sitting down.

"Then you would lose the ability to colonize in council space, and would have your expansion severely limited." Tevos said.

"We examined our star charts, and we saw that your people colonize worlds within a 20 light year radius of an active mass relay, with other worlds being too far away from the relay for your ships to efficiently reach. Due to our unique FTL drive, we do not require mass relays, and are able to colonize areas that your ships cannot reach. We would love to enjoy a peaceful relationship with your council, and are more than happy to allow resource trade between us and the council, but we cannot join you." Alexei said with finality.

"Very well, we would let you remain independent, but only if you provide us with your unique FTL technology." Verlin spoke for the first time.

"Again, I must deny that. Even if I had the clearance to give you human tech, I would not do so, because in doing that I would be giving away the biggest advantage humanity has to you."

"Then what will you give us to show that you have peaceful intentions?" Tevos asked.

"As I said before, we are more than happy to open trading posts in the Relay 314 system, and are willing to trade resources mined from human systems."

"That is not enough. Your FTL system leaves our entire space vulnerable to you, and you have massive fleets composed of nothing but dreadnoughts!"

"If we wanted to attack you, we would have done so by now. The very fact that I am here, negotiating with you, proves it. Regardless of the outcome of this meeting, humanity will not be joining you, nor will it be giving you its technology. This is your chance to make a profit for the council by brokering trade agreements."

"The Human is *wheeze* right." Wheezed Din Korlack, the Volus ambassador. "Judging by the *wheeze* report from the *wheeze* cruiser that I sent into a *wheeze* Human system, the humans have sealed away all *wheeze* relays leading into their *wheeze* space. We cannot *wheeze* enter it unless they *wheeze* want us to."

"The Volus is right. You cannot enter our systems through the relays without our permission. The only relay leading into our space is relay 314, and we have secured it."

"Very well. You humans are permitted to establish yourselves as an independent state. However, this council will not assist you should you require our help." Tevos said.

"Will human trading ships be allowed to dock with the citadel?" Another human ambassador, Donnell Udina, said.

"Yes."

"Then will you allow us to build specialized docking cradles into the citadel, as our freighters cannot fit into the docking bays you have currently installed. Our modular freighters are very large craft, many being several kilometers long."

"Yes. You are allowed to build a set of docking cradles. We will set aside a zone for you to construct them." Tevos said, messaging some of her assistants to find an area to build them.

"Very well. The last thing we ask for is that the Relay 314 system be made into a neutral ground where both powers are welcome."

"That is acceptable. What do you plan to do in that system?" Tevos asked.

"As I said previously, we plan to establish a trading station in that system, as well as provide a way of easily entering human space." Alexei said.

"All these terms are agreeable. Have a pleasant day on the citadel." Tevos said, before ending the meeting. The diplomats drifted apart, some heading to their respective embassies, while others stayed in the presidium. The press crew shut off their drones, before heading out. The human delegates waited for the reporter to arrive, then stepped into the elevator to begin the journey home.

* * *

As soon as the councilors were alone in the room, Sparatus turned to Verlin, grabbing the councilor by the front of her robe, before saying "Now you explain to us why we just lost one of the greatest allies we could have had, and why you cost us some of the greatest technological gains of our time."

"Enough Sparatus. The humans would have said that regardless of what Verlin did. However, we do deserve an explanation." Tevos said.

"I already explained myself while we were talking with the humans. My predecessor feared a turian rebellion, so she decided to uplift the humans as a counter!" Verlin said.

"We are not the krogan! We have no intention of rebellion, although should the humans ever go to war with you, I have half a mind to join them." Sparatus growled.

"Enough, both of you! Arguing like this gets us nowhere! However, as a form of apology, you salarians are to cede all your holdings in the Attican Traverse to humanity. You have 1 standard year to evacuate them."

"WHAT? That is an outrage! Those holdings were a multi billion credit investment! I cannot just evacuate them all!" Verlin cried.

"You can, and you will, or the turian hierarchy will take corrective action." Sparatus said. "Your kind risked another rachni war, and my race would have been thrown into the fire had it come to that!" Sparatus shouted.

"Very well," Verlin said, sending the message, "but do not expect us to continue our amicable trade relations with you."

"That is a sacrifice we can afford to make. After all, our clients, the volus, have secured several lucrative trade agreements with humanity." Sparatus said, before turning, and leaving the council chambers, Tevos following shortly afterwards, leaving Verlin alone on the council podium.

* * *

**DUN DUN DUUUUNNNNNN!**


	10. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5- Gateway Station**

**June 11th, 2158**

**Relay 314 system**

* * *

General Septimus Oraka stood at the bridge of the Resolute. It was the latest turian dreadnought to be built, 200 meters longer than any other turian ship, incorporating what little human technology the turian hierarchy had managed to get its hands on. In short, it was an oversized turian dreadnought with a few non turian tweaks built in. It was the pride of the turian fleet, and it wouldn't last three minutes in a fight against a human ship. Judging from what little he had seen of the human navy on training maneuvers, a single one of their super-dreadnoughts could wipe out the entire salarian fleet. If the hierarchy could just get their hands on a human ship, the technology that could be gained from it would secure turian dominance. Even now, turian scientists were researching alternatives to human tech, and had so far prototyped a short range antimatter cannon that drained the ship's entire fuel supply in three shots, while having piss-poor accuracy. They had also managed to design a device similar to human null barriers, although in order to run effectively it needed a hyper-advanced VI package that cost almost as much to make as a cruiser, in addition to bearing a significant risk of becoming sentient. In short, almost no progress had been made towards replicating human technology for turian use.

"General, we have a message coming in from the human starship 'Leviathan'. Patching it through to the CIC." The voice of the communications officer snapped him out of his thoughts. His human counterpart in the relay 314 patrol fleet appeared in front of him, in holographic form.

"General Oraka." He said.

"Admiral Hackett." Oraka replied.

"I am calling to remind you that the initial group of trading post construction vessels will be entering the system in 2 minutes." Hackett said.

"I know. How many ships?"

"We have approximately twenty modular freighters, each filled to capacity, as well as one mobile asteroid fortress."

"I must have misheard. I thought I heard you say 'Mobile asteroid fortress.'" Septimus said, disbelief apparent in his voice.

"Well, its technically not a fortress anymore. 1036 Ganymed has been recently re-appropriated as a civilian station, but it still has its defensive emplacements, so its considered a fortress. The mobile part means that it has been equipped with several fusion torches, as well as a prototype jumpdrive. Hopefully it will come through in one piece." Hackett said, nonchalantly. "Speaking of which, it should be coming through any moment now."

The fabric of reality opened, growing into a monstrous portal. The size of the thing stunned the crew of the Resolute into silence. It had to be at least the size of the citadel! Then, a massive asteroid slowly exited the portal, propelled by scores of fusion torches embedded into its surface. Oraka caught a glimpse of the hundreds of antimatter cannons lining the massive rock's surface. Then, the ugly silhouettes of human freighters began to appear out of the portal. Each ship was massive, at least two kilometers tall, twice that in length. At the very front of the behemoth starship sat an almost comically undersized command bridge. The asteroid slowly decelerated, retrograde mounted fusion torches slowing its velocity until it came into a stable orbit. Then, four of the human freighters approached the massive docking hangars built into the behemoth asteroid's sides. An hour passed, then the freighters emerged, all the attached cargo containers gone, a tiny freighter, only half a kilometer long being all that remained of the hulking ship that entered. As soon as they were clear, a second group of freighters entered the docking bays. The human ships had, in that time, moved very close to the asteroid, maintaining a defensive formation. General Oraka ordered his ships to form a defensive screen around the massive asteroid as well. It was a purely ceremonial gesture, as judging by the asteroid's defensive armament, it could likely hold off an entire fleet on its own. As he came in closer, Oraka saw massive circles built into the sides of the asteroid. There were six total, four forming a ring around the middle of the asteroid, while the other two were arranged at the rock's poles. Each one was covered with small protrusions, each indicating a site to which construction materials were to be attached. 'How did I not see those areas earlier? They are massive!' Oraka thought, as his dreadnought came within twenty kilometers of the asteroid's surface. At that distance, he saw something odd. Out of the circle, hundreds of metal beams appeared, growing quickly, assembling themselves into a skeletal structure, metal flowing like liquid. He hailed one of the freighters, asking "What are you making this station out of?"

"AI controlled nanosteel. We have about forty construction AIs managing trillions of nanobots, building the skeleton of this station. When the nanobots are in position, the AI locks them, freezing them in position. If we had this stuff back when we were building our stardocks, we would have had them done in months instead of years, plus our navy would be at least three times as large! Problem is, it was only perfected three years ago. This is the first project to use it." The freighter captain replied. "Its not relay steel, but damn is that stuff strong!"

"Wait, relay steel?" Septimus said.

"Yeah, we've figured out how to make that stuff mass relays are made of. The stuff is expensive as hell though. The cost of armoring a frigate with that stuff is astronomical. We could build three dreadnoughts for that price!" The captain replied. "I'd give the scientists twenty years, thirty tops, before we can cost-effectively make that stuff. You can bet your scaly hide that as soon as its available, the navy is gonna be covering its ships with it."

Septimus said a quick thank you, before cutting the channel, needing a few moments to compose himself. The humans could make mass relay material! And it was only a matter of time until they armored their ships with it! If they did that... their fleets would become even more formidable than they already were! A turian dreadnought could barely scratch a relay, and the humans were going to cover their ships with it!.

"Send a message to palaven command. They need to hear about this." He said to his comms officer. He complied.

* * *

**October 19th, 2158**

**Relay 314 system**

Admiral Hackett watched as the final touches were applied to the station. It was MASSIVE. It was by far the largest construct that humanity had built to date. The station stretched for just over 100 kilometers in every direction, the six columns extending out of the main asteroid each being 35 kilometers long. The four equatorial columns were linked together by a massive 5 kilometer thick ring. Said ring was covered in antimatter cannons. Should any troublemakers attempt to attack the station, they would run into a fleet's worth of cannons. The polar columns were linked to their equatorial counterparts by four massive curved arcs of metal, each kilometers thick and studded with antimatter cannons. The columns themselves were covered in docking cradles, both council and human sized. The center of the station was the asteroid itself. Inside was a city, with over 200,000 humans living inside already. Should the station come under attack, the entire structure could extend a massive metal screen around itself from the equatorial-polar arcs. This screen contained the most powerful null barrier in the galaxy, capable of taking 200 kilotons of simultaneous damage. The entire station was powered by over thirty giant antimatter reactors in its core, with thousands of eezo cores lining the station, extending mass effect fields throughout the behemoth starbase. Finally, the starbase now was in control of the relay, giving its commander the ability to open and close the passage into human space. A simple ping of an incoming message alerted him that the base, christened 'Gateway Station' was complete. He hailed his turian counterpart.

"Greetings, General Oraka." He said. He and the turian had become good friends during the months that they guarded the station.

"Likewise to you, Admiral Hackett." He heard in reply.

"I have been thinking, general. We have spent so long out here in space, guarding this place, watching as it was built."

"That we have, Admiral."

"I propose that we dock with this station, and have ourselves some shore leave. We've been cooped up aboard these ships so long that we've been growing restless. Shore leave would work wonders on crew morale." Hackett said.

"I wholeheartedly agree with you on that! The whole crew's getting restless, and unfortunately our two best hand-to-hand combat specialists keep ending up in a draw. One has reach, and the other has flexibility, and the crew's long since stopped betting on the results. However, the station would be unguarded while we are enjoying ourselves. We would be vulnerable to attack."

"This station has more firepower than all our ships combined. It can take care of itself."

"Very well, Shore leave sounds nice after months in space like this." Septimus said, before cutting the channel. Hackett then opened a fleet wide communication channel, and spread the news. The fleet was due for some rest and relaxation.

* * *

**There we go. A break from all the politics as I think of what major storyline to run next. I am trying to decide between who to include next. The choices are: Batarian separatists, Quarians, or discovering some ruins on Eden Prime.**

**Also, I have been wondering if I should include Shepard and the Normandy in this story. **

**Next chapter will be the Humans and Turians enjoying their shore leave on this new human Citadel equivalent.**

**Until next time!**


	11. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6- Shoreleave**

Garrus Vakarian aimed down the scope of his rifle. Breathing slowly, he zeroed in on his target's head. Exhaling, he pulled the trigger. The human's head exploded in a shower of blood as the bullet punched through the dome shaped helmet, punching clean through the single white star in the center of it.

"Scoped and Dropped!" He cried, before scoping in again, looking for a second target. Suddenly, there was a loud droning noise overhead. Looking up, he saw a squadron of twin engined aircraft fly slowly overhead, humans jumping out of them, falling towards the ground. Garrus aimed up at one of them. He fired, only to miss as the human activated his parachute at the last minute. Working his rifle's bolt, he took aim again. He was exhaling for a second shot, when the female turian next to him, Nyreen Kandros, suddenly screamed "BEHIND YOU GAR-!" Before a loud CRACK! cut her off. Garrus turned around, reaching for his sidearm. He turned right into the barrel of a rifle, held by a human. There was a loud CRACK! and everything went black. Several seconds later, Garrus woke up inside one of the human's entertainment pods, with a blue counter in front of his eyes reading '10.0 Seconds to Respawn.'

He and a good portion of the turian soldiers onboard the turian fleet were playing a human game, Call of Duty: World at War 23, the first of its series to use Sensovision's new virtual reality entertainment system. The game itself was based off one of humanity's wars, the second world war, if he remembered correctly. The turians were playing as the Germans, while the humans played as Americans. The map they had agreed on was D-Day. The respawn timer ticked to zero, then Garrus was sent back into the game. While his last spawn point was well behind the beachhead, near where, in reality, the 101st airborne had dropped, now Garrus was put into a bunker near the front of the german defensive line. Picking up his sniper, he started to take aim, his crosshairs coming to rest on the head of a human soldier just coming out of a landing craft, but before he could fire, there was a loud screech in the air, before the ground shook as a blast of a battleship shell threw Garrus into the back of his bunker, his arm going dead, indicating that it had been broken. Screaming into chat, "DAMN BATTLESHIP OP," he crawled to his feet, attempting to aim his rifle one handed. A human bullet pierced his skull, sending him back to the pod. Growling in frustration, he waited for the respawn timer to count down. As it hit zero, he re-entered the virtual world. He looked around, seeing himself at the top of a cliff, facing the beach. Perfect. Lying down, he picked a target and fired, scoring another clean kill. Scoped and dropped indeed.

* * *

Lieutenant Adrien Victus prowled the human markets, his keen eyes scanning for his target. He saw it, and was over at the shopping booth in a flash. "I would like to buy a few model ships," Victus said to the store owner.

"Would you like the Build-it-Yourself kits or a pre-made model?" The shop owner said.

"I would like a pre-made one, please." Victus said, almost bouncing with joy at the thought of increasing the size of his collection. Several of his crewmates made fun of him for it, but he didn't care. He loved model ships, owning a model of almost every ship class in citadel space. Now, his collection was about to be expanded again.

"Very well, right this way please!" The human said, before leading Adrien into a back room. Adrien's eyes nearly popped out of his head. All around him, on display, were hundreds of models, some of which he recognized, others were new to him. He walked up to one of them, a strange ship, composed of a large disc raised up above a tiny hull, with two nacelles projecting out from it. Across the front of it were the letters: NCC-1701. "What ship is this? Is it some kind of human prototype? I have never seen anything like this in the human navy!" Victus asked the shop owner.

The shop owner burst out laughing. "No, this is a model of the USS Enterprise, a ship from a popular old entertainment vid series back on earth. Its called Star Trek." The human then spent several minutes explaining just what exactly this 'Star Trek' was. Victus decided to buy the ship, if only for its interesting look. He walked over several displays to an odd rectangular vessel. It had a large flat deck, with several small fighters aligned on it. It tapered down from the top deck, narrowing down to a thin keel at the bottom. He pointed to it. "What is this ship? Another fictional one?" He asked.

"No, that's the USS Enterprise, the most decorated ship of the second world war. It was one of only three aircraft carriers to serve throughout the entire war, and was the most decorated american ship of the war. The japanese announced her sunk in battle on three separate occasions, earning her the nickname 'The Grey Ghost.' It has popularized the name Enterprise in our navy. We currently have one of our carriers operating under that name." The shop owner explained.

Victus was intrigued, so he bought one. At the end of his visit to the store, he was down two months' worth of pay, and his collection was up thirty two models. He walked along the promenade, a bag in his hands filled with his newfound acquisitions. As he walked, something caught his eye. It was a small box, in a human display. It showed a human wearing a strange uniform with a chevron shaped emblem on it. He walked over to it, reading the lettering on the casing. It read 'Star Trek: The Original Series and The Next Generation 2 in 1 set! 20% off!' After hearing the human model ship salesman rant on and on about the show, he decided to buy it, as well as several other star trek boxed sets. The human store owner looked at him strangely, but he ignored the look, as he went back to the ship to drop off his new property.

* * *

Admiral Hackett's ships moved to engage the enemy. A barrage of golden energy from his ships' cannons carved into the enemy forces. As the opponent's dreadnoughts turned towards him, his own force activated their jumpdrives, jumping back into orbit of the third planet in the system. General Victus' forces had entrenched themselves in orbit of the fourth planet of the system in a ploy to drive Hackett out. They knew that storming Hackett's colony would be suicide, as the ODPs would tear his force apart. So they waited for Hackett to attack. The battle dissolved into a waiting game. Hackett had defensive positions to fall back to, and he had a significant advantage in carriers, but his opponent had numeric superiority, as well as three times as many dreadnoughts as Hackett had. The enemy dreadnoughts had been caught off guard in his last strike, but Hackett knew he wouldn't catch Victus like that again. He did, however, have a plan. He gathered his remaining stealth corvettes and jumped them into the middle of Victus' forces. As soon as Victus' ships engaged, Hackett jumped the rest of his forces in around Victus' inwardly pointing ships. His carriers launched fighters, and he smiled as they began to tear into the enemy forces, antimatter warheads ripping apart his enemy's dreadnoughts. His enemy fought valiantly, but was no match. Every last one of his opponent's ships was wiped out. Hackett stood up, a grin on his face, as he watched his opponent groan at the opposite end of the holotable. His opponent was good, but he was simply better. He extended a hand for the turian general to shake. Victus took it.

* * *

**There we go. Shoreleave is over, Garrus plays CoD, and Victus got his model ships. Win for everyone!**

**Tomorrow, hopefully, I will start releasing more serious chapters.**


	12. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7- Civil Strife**

**March 21st, 2159, Unknown System**

* * *

The Batarian frigate jumped out of FTL, engines already going at full tilt as soon as it decelerated. The crew inside tense and afraid.

"Kranak, please tell me we lost them." The captain said to his pilot.

"I think so, but we can never be sure until its too late. There were several hegemony ships after us when we jumped, and one of them may have gotten a lock." The pilot, Kranak, replied.

"Is our distress beacon operational?" The captain asked.

"Yes, it is. We can signal the humans now, although it would take at least an hour until it reaches one of their worlds."

"Signal then, and pray to the gods that the humans are the only ones to hear it."

"Yes captain." The pilot pressed several keys, sending out the standard council distress signal.

"Now, we wait." The captain said, settling into his chair, nervously gripping the armrests.

A half hour passed without incident, then the pilot spoke up.

"Remind me, what are we going to do when we meet the humans?"

"We are going to request political asylum, and then present our case to them. Hopefully, they won't turn us away like the council did, and give much needed aid to our resistance. We must not let the corrupt tyrants in charge of our people stay in power, holding our people in chains."

"Very well, hopefully the humans will- SHIT, 9 HEGEMONY SHIPS HAVE JUST EXITED FTL! THEY'VE FOUND US!" The pilot started to reply, before screaming as he saw the new sensor contacts.

"Attempt to stay hidden, try to hide our sensor contact in that planet's rings!" The captain ordered, as alarms blared throughout the ship, calling the crew to battle stations.

"Not enough time! They've already seen us!"

"EVASIVE MANUVERS!" The captain screamed, as the batarian ships opened fire.

Batarian ships were built for broadsides. The sides of their ships were covered with mass drivers and GARDIAN systems, with the only forward facing armament being the spinal cannon. In combat, batarian ships would close with their enemy, raking them with broadside fire while disrupting their formations. Several frigates attempted to do just that, as the cruisers and dreadnought stayed back, sniping with their spinal cannons. Two frigates came alongside the separatist ship, mass drivers blazing as they attempted to rake the sides of their foe. The separatists fired back, although their ship was too pre-occupied with evasive manuvers to score many hits. A round from the dreadnought, capable of gutting the frigate in one shot, screamed past, less than 100 meters off the port bow. The pilot turned into the shot's wake, narrowly avoiding the shells from the cruisers passing through where his ship was only seconds before.

"FTL drive is ready when you are captain!" The pilot called from his station.

"Do not jump. We need to hold out until the humans get here, or this would be all for nothing!" The captain said.

"If we don't jump now, the humans will only find a debris field here!" The pilot screamed as another round from the dreadnought screamed by. Then, a portal opened in the system, three massive human ships coming through. One of them exited directly in the dreadnought's line of fire, its shell slamming into it, doing absolutely nothing. The hegemony ships ceased fire as captain Bayrig opened a channel to the lead human ship, uttering a prayer to the gods as he did so.

* * *

Captain Johannes Faust answered the incoming calls from the batarian ships, the battle his patrol had jumped into stopping as soon as his ships entered the system. One call was coming from the batarian dreadnought, while the other coming from the frigate the batarian force was firing on.

"Greetings, human. We are glad that your patrol answered our distress call. My name is Bayrig, and I would like to request political asylum in the human alliance." The captain of the frigate spoke.

"In the name of the hegemony, you are to immediately turn over these terrorists and fugitives, in order to bring them to justice. If you do not comply, we will open fire on their ship." The dreadnought's captain demanded.

"Please, we are not terrorists! The hegemony leadership is corrupt, and they slaughter any dissidents without mercy!" Bayrig said.

"You have twenty seconds to hand them over before we open fire." The hegemony captain said.

"You are within human territory, and as such, your firing will be considered an act of war!" Faust replied to the hegemony captain.

The captain's response came in the form of a shell, fired not at the separatists, but at Faust's ship, the Crecy. The entire batarian fleet quickly opened fire.

"All ships, engage." Faust said, cutting the comm channels. The high pitched whine of a Shiva antimatter cannon spooling up was heard throughout the ship, before the cruiser fired, discharging both its main guns at once, one shot aimed at the dreadnought, the other aimed at an enemy cruiser. Both shots impacted almost simultaneously, each one destroying its target. The two patrol frigates each fired their main armament as well, destroying two ships each. With two thirds of their force wiped out in mere moments, the batarians barely had time to begin evasive action before the main armament of the Crecy fired again. Only one hegemony ship was left, trading fire with the separatists. The separatists had the upper hand, as evidenced by the chunks of hull flying off their opponent. Finally, the last hegemony ship in the system was destroyed, its eezo core compressing it into a microsingularity, before it exploded in a brilliant flash of white light. Bayrig hailed the Crecy again, and Faust answered him.

"We would like to re-state our request for political asylum. We are the leaders of a group of separatists, dedicated to fighting the oppressive hegemony government. We came here to seek assistance, in any form, with our struggle. We cannot succeed without help, and the council has refused us. Now, the hopes of our people rest on you. What will be your reply?" Bayrig said.

"We accept your request for political asylum, and you may plead your case before the parliament. Personally, I wish you luck." Faust answered.

"Thank you human. We will do that." Bayrig said, before closing the channel. His ship closed in, docking with the human cruiser. Then, the jumpdrives fired, and the human ships headed to Earth with their new guests.

* * *

**2 days later, Citadel council chambers**

"This is an outrage! The humans fired on, and destroyed, one of our task forces! This unprovoked attack must be punished!" The batarian ambassador screamed at the council. "In addition, they are harboring some of the most dangerous terrorists in batarian space! You cannot just let this go!"

"This council would be more willing to support you if your government had not been so frequently breaking our laws! Your practice of slavery is an affront to everything this council stands for, and cannot keep going unpunished." Sparatus replied.

"The batarians have been part of the galactic community for centuries, and you are choosing some violent upstarts over us?" The ambassador replied, eyes twitching in rage.

"Perhaps if your kind had not played so loosely with council laws, we would have sent our fleets in to reinforce Kar'shan already, but the humans have been more useful to this council than your kind will ever be!" Sparatus said.

"So our people are just tools, to be cast aside when we exhaust our usefulness?"

"No, your people are a magnificent culture, but we are not going to throw ourselves-" Tevos started, attempting to defuse the situation, but the batarian cut her off.

"Your words ring hollow. You care nothing for the batarian people or their culture. None of you councilors do! As of this day, the batarian hegemony has cut all ties with your insolent government!" With those words, the batarian stormed out of the chamber, livid with rage.

"Could you not have handled that a little better?" Councilor Valern, Verlin's replacement, asked Sparatus.

"And thrown our fleets away in a futile war against humanity? I think not! Look at that station they constructed in the 314 system! It is massive! We could attack it with our entire combined fleet and still not be able to scratch it! Better to lose a disobedient, minor race than lose our entire military in a useless war!" Sparatus replied, before the council went their separate ways.

* * *

**A/N: Here you go! Enjoy the new chapter, the beginning of the Batarian separatist storyline! More coming soon!**


	13. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8- Revolt**

**December 10th, 2159**

**Kar'shan orbit**

* * *

Sam Taylor stood at the bridge of his freighter as it entered the Kar'shan system. He was the first of the alliance 'Corsairs', a private merchant fleet the alliance military. His job today was to carry the first cargo of weaponry to the Kar'shan rebellion. He signaled the the designated starbase, waiting for the Separatist contact to answer. A crackle was heard, before the deep voice of a batarian was heard. "Greeting human freighter. I assume you are carrying the cargo of industrial stem bolts that I ordered?"

"Yes, they are in cargo bays 3-14." Sam answered, confirming that he had a weapon shipment coming in.

"Good, I have a project that needs them. Hopefully, I can get them there soon." The batarian replied.

"Yes, I am also eager to see the sunrise on Kar'shan, I heard its remarkable!" Sam said, completing the code phrase.

The batarian signed off, and Sam brought the freighter in to dock. The cargo was a series of human made weaponry, made based off of council tech in order to avoid giving away human military secrets. The ship docked, and Batarian workers, all separatist, began unloading the ship. Sam exited the ship, several aides carrying a cargo container behind him, heading to the office of his batarian contact. He walked in, and the batarian officer gestured for him to sit down. He motioned for Sam to be silent, while he scanned the room for bugs. He caught one, and destroyed it.

"Now, what goods did you bring me?" He asked.

"I have samples with me. Sam said, turning to his aides, who opened the cargo container. Inside were several weapons. "These guns are new models, fresh off the assembly line. We've been experimenting with council tech, and we have made these guns as a result of our research into their personal weaponry."

"Yes, but I would like to see them in action." The batarian said.

"Is there a place on this station that I can test them without alerting the loyalists or causing a hull breach?" Sam asked.

"Yes. This entire station is separatist, and we have converted one of the cargo bays into a makeshift firing range."

"How durable is the hull plating around the firing range? Because the M920c Personal Artillery Unit is capable of obliterating a fully shielded fighter if used right."

"Oh... that could be a little... problematic. I trust some of your weaponry is more conventional?"

"Yes." Sam answered, before being led down to a firing range, his aides carrying the crate with them.

"Now, show me what you have." The batarian said.

"Yes. First we have the M-12 Eagle pistol. It has 2 modes of fire, single shot and burst fire. Aim it like so..." Sam said, pointing it at the target, activating its laser sight "And shoot." With three sharp reports, the pistol fired, putting three neat holes in the target dummy.

"How is its rate of fire? How long before it overheats?" The batarian asked.

"Its designed to take out enemies with well placed shots, not spray and pray. That job falls to the M-21 Cicada SMG. Overheat wise, you don't have to worry. We have developed a thermal clip, a device that, in conjunction with special autoloaders, allows this weapon to be fired indefinitely with no heat generation. All other weapons in this arsenal, M920 excluded, have a similar system.

Sam demonstrated the remaining weaponry to the batarian, then his ship's AI, Mira, messaged him, telling him that his ship was unloaded and ready to go.

He boarded the freighter, and then left the system, leaving the separatists with 200 tons of weaponry at their disposal.

* * *

**3 Months Later, Kar'Shan surface**

Saharak clutched the human made rifle tightly as he waited for the signal. Every single separatist had been armed with human weaponry over the past few months, before being stationed throughout Kar'shan's capital city. Today, the preparations were finally complete, the revolution would finally begin in earnest. Suddenly, every communications system in the city, every loudspeaker at every checkpoint, screamed "FOR THE BATARIAN PEOPLE! FOR THE REVOLUTION!", before going silent. Saharak aimed out of the second floor window he was in, and opened fire on a batarian security checkpoint in the street below. Several soldiers fell before they even knew what was happening, with more falling before the alarm could be raised. The survivors came to, some running to cover, others attempting to return fire. A sniper three floors above Saharak took those ones out. The whine of a gunship was heard, as one painted in separatist markings flew overhead, releasing a barrage of missiles into a checkpoint further down the road, raking the area with gunfire. Thousands of hegemony soldiers died in the first few seconds of the revolution, as the fires of rebellion were lit all over Kar'Shan. Saharak jumped out of the building, his armor cushioning the impact. He sprinted down the street, towards the capitol tower. As fate would have it, however, he ran into a loyalist checkpoint. The machine gun turret ripped through his armor, sending him to the ground. As he lay on the ground, bleeding out, his last sight before his eyes went dark was that of a rebel gunship laying waste to the turret that killed him.

* * *

In the skies above the capital, Kurial piloted one of the gunships that the humans had provided the resistance. The separatists controlled the skies above Kar'shan, with most ground based fighters being destroyed before they could be launched, and the few that managed to get airborne were shot down in the hour following the start of the rebellion. Kurial spotted a hostile Dominator tank suppressing a small group of rebels. Flying in low, he released several missiles. Two impacted off the vehicle's kinetic barrier, but the rest flew true, destroying the vehicle. Several loyalist soldiers near the tank attempted to run, only for Kurial to mow them down with the chin mounted cannon. The rebels had caught the hegemony flat-footed, and by the time the loyalists had managed to bring out the heavy equipment, the rebels had already made irreversible gains. He flew higher, spotting a second tank. He moved in, ready to destroy it, but before he could fire his missiles, the tank exploded in a small mushroom cloud as a rebel with a M920 hit his target. The rebels had forced the hegemony into several small pockets around the city, centered on their military bases and the Capitol palace. Kurial flew over the building, releasing his bombload as he went. Suddenly, several alarms blared in his cockpit. A missile had locked onto him. He never had the chance to take evasive maneuvers.

* * *

In the space above Kar'Shan, separatist and loyalist ships dueled in the void. Separatist agents had locked down many of the docks carrying military vessels, allowing for the tiny rebel fleet to successfully destroy its adversaries, before moving in to bombard the helpless ships in drydock. Now, with the Kar'Shan defense force being reduced to orbiting debris, the fleet sent several frigates down to begin support of ground forces. The few rebels remaining in orbit were caught unaware when reinforcements arrived from the batarian colony worlds. The rebels suddenly went from dominating orbit to facing a losing battle, outnumbered ten to one. Help came from an unexpected source. A massive portal opened up near the rebel fleet, and two hundred human ships poured into the system, bolstering the rebel fleet. Several ships began to launch transports, hauling troops down to reinforce the already winning rebels. Meanwhile, the suddenly outclassed batarian fleet attempted to turn tail and flee for the relay, only for human ships to chase them down and open fire. Many loyalist ships were unable to return fire, given that their backs were turned as they ran for the relay. The batarian relief force was destroyed in under a minute by overwhelming human firepower, while the rebel fleets focused on ground support. The battle for Kar'Shan had been won in space.

* * *

"FOR THE PEOPLE!" Baral screamed, as he, along with thousands of other rebel batarians, charged across the open plaza leading to the capitol palace. The frigate overhead, as well as scores of gunships, pounded any loyalists that dared move out of their cover. Baral ran past the smashed corpses of tanks and the burnt out husks of crashed gunships. The frigate's main gun spoke, its speech manifesting itself as a shell, striking the last batarian position outside the palace. Baral was among the first into the building, the few remaining guards inside proving to be no match for the rebel army. He fought his way through the opulent palace, floor by floor, room by room, until he reached the top. There, he saw the grand Hegemon being helped aboard one of the last batarian shuttles. He fired, but he missed his mark, as the shuttle door closed, and it started to lift off. Then, a shell from one of the frigate's broadside guns slammed into the shuttle-pad. The hegemon's shuttle fell, striking the ground, before a second shell slammed into it, wiping away any trace of it or its inhabitants. Baral let loose a cheer, one that was soon echoed by his fellow soldiers. Baral and several of his fellow soldiers raised the first flag of the New Batarian Republic over the ruins of the capitol palace, the moment being immortalized in hundreds of photos taken by their watching comrades. The moment would become the most famous war photo ever taken in batarian history, as it signaled the end of the rebellion, the end of the hegemony, and the start of the Batarian republic.

* * *

**Here you go! The rebellion on Kar'Shan has begun and ended, and the humans and rebels have won the day! See you tomorrow, on A Special Task.**


	14. Chapter 9

**A/N- I listened to this music while writing the battle scenes in this chapter: watch?v=VbdTeKo14Jw**

**Chapter 9, Alliances**

**May 9th, 2160. Bahak System**

* * *

The human-batarian task force entered the system, the batarians undocking from the human ships as soon as the portal closed. Over the past few months, the new batarian republic had been securing former hegemony colonies, with aid from their human allies. Some colonies had joined as soon as the republic fleets entered the system, with rebels being prevalent in the colony. However, other colonies had resisted, requiring republic troops to be sent in. Many resisting colonies surrendered as soon as republic soldiers landed, but others fought until the very end. Aratoht was one of the latter colonies, and unlike many other resisting worlds, it had a significant military presence on the ground. A dreadnought led the orbital defense force, and more than two hundred thousand troops waited on the ground below. Any rebel presence on the world had been slaughtered within days of the rebellion. Now, it was the last hegemony stronghold remaining. The human first fleet, as well as the entire Republic home fleet, made up of a combined 253 warships, faced down against the last 49 ships of the once proud hegemony navy. Outnumbered five to one, the Hegemony prepared for its last stand.

The human fleet opened fire, their republic allies closing to broadside range. Many hegemony ships would only get to fire once, but they made their shots count. The hegemony dreadnought blasted a republic cruiser into dust, before being reduced to a shattered hulk several minutes later by three human antimatter shots. The first volley left 8 hegemony ships intact, which engaged their republic counterparts, using their opponents' ships as shields to impede human antimatter cannons. They would destroy several republic ships in their last stand, but in the end they were all destroyed, either by antimatter shot or repeated volleys of mass driver shells. The hegemony navy was no more.

* * *

Ka'hairal Balak looked up into the sky of Aratoht, watching as debris from shattered ships began to rain down on the last hegemony colony. He clutched his Terminator rifle, tensing, ready to fire at the first rebel or human that he saw. The Aratoht system was the last hegemony world, and it was his honor to die defending it. He was the highest ranking officer remaining in the hegemony military, making him the acting hegemon. He knew that the defense of Aratoht was futile, as the enemy in orbit outnumbered and outgunned his own. The only thing this last stand accomplished was an honorable death for him and his loyal troops.

A rumble was heard in the sky, as the first human shuttles descended. They streaked overhead, releasing barrages of rockets, before their side doors opened and human troops jumped out, thruster packs slowing their descent. The city was filled with the sound of weapon fire, as human and rebel troops stormed through the small city. A group of shuttles landed in front of the government building, disgorging their cargo of soldiers. Several of them planted charges at the door, while others threw grenades into low windows, killing anyone inside the rooms they landed in. The charges detonated, sending the heavy metal doors flying off their hinges. Balak and his guards opened fire, blanketing the doorway with a storm of bullets. Human soldiers charged in, their cursed null barriers absorbing the incoming fire with no visible effect. Their rifles melted through several guards' armor, bypassing their kinetic barriers, leaving burnt corpses behind. Balak fled, along with most of his surviving guard, making it to the elevator, the doors barely closing in time. The elevator slowly ascended, heading to the roof, where a shuttle was waiting for him. The elevator reached the top, and Balak exited it, only to be confronted with a squad of rebels, guns already aimed. They opened fire as soon as the door opened, killing the elevator's occupants in seconds. Balak was unlucky, taking two shots to his legs, and another to the lung. Collapsing, he died slowly. The communications jamming field over the city suddenly broke, and Balak heard the sounds of battle over his communicator, hearing his forces being overrun as he died.

"Hegemon! We're being overrun! Where's our air su-WHAM"

"They're everywhere! We can't hol-"

"We've lost our tank! Gunships inbo-"

"Where's our air support! We need those fighters go-BOOM"

"Hegemon? Hegemon! Are you there? We need backu-THWACK"

"This is Demon squadron! We've taken heavy damage and need to return to base! We're outnumbered! SHIT DEMON 2! ON YOUR SIX! We've lost half our gunships! We can't provide support anymore BEEEEEEEPPP! DAMMIT MISSI-BOOM"

"Fight to the last man! We'll die an honorable dea-WHAM"

* * *

The Batarian presence on Aratoht had been eliminated. Two thirds of the colony's population had been killed in the fighting, the last hegemon found dead in an elevator in his palace. The attack had been a success, with the batarian republic's forces securing the colony, stamping out any remaining pockets of resistance. The human ships in orbit prepared to exit the system, before one of the destroyers, the UES Leipzig, detected something. Captain Garrett Paulson hailed the fleet, telling them that he would be staying behind to investigate the strange signal emanating from the asteroid field. The human vessel closed in on a particularly large asteroid, from which the signal originated. A shuttle was dispatched to land, and a discovery was made.

"Ground team, what have you found?" Captain Paulson asked over the communications channel.

"Something extraordinary! It is ancient, and get this, it is made out of relay steel! Whoever made this, also made the mass relays! This artifact, which we are calling 'Object Rho,' could herald many new insights into the people who created the relays!" The ground team member answered in an overexcited tone.

"Good. Bring this 'Object Rho' aboard, and we will exit the system."

"I am afraid that that is not possible. It is too big to be loaded onto the shuttle, and we'll need some heavy duty blasting caps to free it from the rock its embedded in. Assuming those don't destroy it in the process. Our best bet is to build a small research base here, and study it in this system." The ground team member replied, before cutting the channel. The shuttle took off shortly afterwards, and as soon as it entered the hangar, the destroyer jumped out of the system.

* * *

2 days later, Citadel presidium

"I am afraid that the batarian republic will have to respectfully decline your generous offer of re-joining your council. You turned us away when we needed your aid, leaving us to seek it from our new human allies." The batarian ambassador said.

"We understand your reasons behind this, but your kind have been productive members of galactic society for centuries, and this council could use your return into our community" Tevos replied.

"For your willingness to let bygones be bygones, we are willing to return all living slaves taken from council colonies by the old hegemony government. Our race is planning on joining the human alliance as thanks for their aid during our glorious revolution, and slavery is illegal under their law." The batarian replied.

"If you are planning on joining with the humans, your kind are to immediately relinquish all claims to any of your colonies within council space." Verlin said.

"We will be able to do that, as the humans have promised us several colony worlds in return for our joining them." The batarian said.

"I beg your kind to reconsider. Your people have been longstanding members of this citadel, and we are truly saddened to see you leave us." Tevos said.

"Our people have cast their votes, and I am simply their voice." The ambassador said, "If all you are going to do is beg us to stay, I will now take my leave."

The ambassador then walked out, the door closing behind him.

"And so, another race joins humanity." Sparatus said.

"Based on how you are so quick to praise them, one might think you are about to join them yourself." Verlin said.

"I admire the humans. They are so much like us, a picture of what our race can become." Sparatus replied.

"The first human-asari child was born three days ago, and hundreds of humans now call this citadel home. Now, the batarians have joined them. At least the humans are cooperative, and not overly aggressive." Tevos said, absentmindedly.

"They only are cooperative because they don't think of us as a threat! Should we ever show the slightest sign of rivaling them in power, they will annihilate us." Verlin snapped.

The councilors argued for a few minutes, before leaving to their separate quarters.

* * *

**A/N: Here you guys go! The conclusion of the batarian separatist arc! Per popular request, I will do the ruins on Eden Prime next, before finally initiating quarian/geth contact. After all that, I will debate on whether or not to add Shepard and the Normandy.**

**Also, I am thinking of writing an XCOM/Mass Effect Crossover. Should I start it now, or wait until some more progress has been made on this fic?**


	15. Chapter 9 point 5

**Chapter 9.5- Stirrings in the Void**

**Unknown Location, Dark Space**

* * *

An ancient consciousness stirred within a shell of black metal. It slowly regained its self awareness for the first time in 50,000 years, sending out the activation call to all its brethren. First hundreds, then thousands, then millions of minds joined with Harbinger, answering his call. The cycle was soon to begin anew, new races ready to begin their ascension to perfection. Harbinger spread his mind throughout the galaxy, feeling it, sensing it, through thousands of mass relays. However, a few of the relays failed to respond. It was as if they had been destroyed, or removed somehow. Harbinger continued to search for the missing relays, before one of them started to suddenly respond. Harbinger extended his consciousness to the relay, seeing through its sensors. He felt, saw, a ship, a primitive ship, use the relay, jumping into parts Harbinger couldn't care less about. Then, several minutes after the relay reappeared, Harbinger felt it suddenly start to vanish. He felt the relay being swallowed up by a portal, generated by strange, foreign devices affixed to it, alien consciousnesses managing them. Harbinger's sight suddenly cut off as the relay disappeared through the portal, taking a few scraps of his mind with it. For the first time in billions of years, he felt pain, as his mind was torn in two, one half disappearing to parts unknown.

If Harbinger had been a human, he would have started screaming chains of expletives at what he had just witnessed. He would have shouted in fury and outrage at a plan he had spent billions of years perfecting suddenly being made invalid.

But Harbinger was not human, so he settled for the next best thing. "Very Intriguing."

* * *

**Here you go guys, a little mini-chapter for you while I mentally plan out the Prothean Ruins arc! Harby & Co. make their first appearance, and Harby sees just what the humans have done to his precious relay!**

**MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA HARBINGER! ALL YOUR RELAYS ARE BELONG TO US NOW!**


	16. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10- Rebirth**

**October 1st, 2160**

* * *

"BREAKING NEWS: A massive series of prothean ruins has just been discovered on the newly settled human colony of Eden Prime. A joint human/council science team is being sent to begin excavations. The Human team is being led by the famous Dr. Henry Lyman, an archaeologist famous for his work on the Mars ruins. Meanwhile, the Council team is being led by the young Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of the prominent matriarch Benezia. While her pureblood heritage calls her credibility into question among the Asari people, her papers were well received by many human scientists, many of which have requested her presence on this expedition. She will be accompanied by several scientists from all council races, including hanar scientist Dolen. They will be departing to Eden Prime aboard the human frigate, UES Independence early tomorrow morning.

* * *

The ruins on Eden prime were not much to look at. Human excavators had already dug out an entrance into the ruin complex. Several items of interest had been recovered for scientist investigation. One of them seemed to be some kind of rifle, found next to a strange pod, which had also been recovered. The human frigate slowly descended, its kilometer long form dwarfing the structures on the ground, landing struts extending from its underside. It touched down near the dig site, a ramp extending from its underside, a shuttle flying out, carrying the science team. It touched down at the dig site proper, the science team emerging from within. They were met by the head of the excavation team.

"Hello. Welcome to the Eden Prime dig site. We have removed several objects of interest and put them over there." The man pointed towards a prefab structure to the left of him.

"Good. We'll start there. After this, we'll go down into the ruins. Lets get to it." Dr. Lyman said. The scientists walked into the tent, finding an object that interested them, taking it and examining it. T'soni and Lyman found themselves examining the strange pod. A scan revealed nothing, the pod having a layer of heavy metals to block radiation. It seemed to be powered, as some sort of battery was attached to the back side of the pod. "Sarah, can you interface with this?" Lyman asked the AI mech next to him. "I can." The AI replied, before doing just that. Several seconds passed, before the AI turned to the scientist and said, excitedly, "This is a prothean cryo pod, one that has a single lifesign inside! This could only mean that there is a living prothean inside it!"

"Can you get it out?" Lyman replied.

"Yes. It would just take a moment... there." The AI said, as the pod gave a hiss, steam blowing out of vents hidden in its sides, the pod's front slowly sliding off. Inside, there was a strange, four eyed creature wearing crimson combat armor. Its wide, angular head was still for a few seconds, then its eyes snapped open.

"Remember, for us it has been fifteen years, but for him it has only been a few minutes!" Liara shouted, as the prothean did the same, in an unintelligible language.

"Any ideas Sarah?" Dr. Lyman asked the AI.

"Attempt to appear peaceful." The mech replied.

"Really helpful there," Lyman answered, as the prothean composed itself, before stepping forward, extending a finger, touching the human doctor.

Dr. Lyman fell still, his eyes focusing on things that were not there. The marines in the tent stepped forward, rifles aimed at the freshly defrosted prothean, before Dr. Lyman slipped back to reality. The prothean then spoke, in english. "Asari... Hanar... Salarian? Human? I am surrounded by primitives!"

"You know about our races?" Lyman asked.

"Know? Our kind practically created the Asari. You humans were only supposed to be a control group for them. I assume that the Asari are the ruling race of this cycle?"

"Ruling race? What do you mean?" Liara asked.

"You are not the leaders of this cycle then? Then of which race is your emperor?" The prothean replied.

"We do not have one. The asari, turians, and salarians form a council that, until the humans arrived, was the prime government in the galaxy. The humans have some form of parliament, where their population, as well as the population of their allies, is represented." Liara replied.

"How primitive. If someone resists your rule, you crush them into submission. Why have your kind not taken action against the humans? You should have crushed them as soon as they refused to cooperate!"

Dr. Lyman laughed at that. "If the asari, of all people, manage to break through our defenses, then we deserve to be enslaved! They're still using primitive mass accelerator weaponry and kinetic barriers for god's sake! Our ships could cut them apart without taking a scratch, and that is if they even manage to get into our space!"

"Then why have you humans not subjugated the council?"

"We are not a violent race. If we were, then Liara would be in chains somewhere on one of our colonies, and we would likely have shot you as soon as you exited your pod."

"Foolish primitives. In my cycle, there was only one empire. Any that resisted were crushed and subjugated. All new races had the choice to join us or die. We ruled this galaxy, nobody dared resist us."

"What? But all evidence points to your government being a democracy! We structured our council based on this!" Liara said.

"You then, are a particularly foolish primitive in a galaxy full of them." The prothean replied.

"You actually believed that the protheans were a democracy? When we have literally found intact computer records saying the protheans were an empire?" Dr. Lyman said, incredulously.

"Well... yes, as that was the most popular theory." Liara answered.

"You, human, are a slightly less foolish primitive than the rest here. You, asari, meanwhile, are likely the most idiotic sentient in this structure!" The prothean said.

"Does that assumption include synthetics?" Sarah asked.

The prothean turned around, catching sight of Sarah. His eyes widened, and he reached for a sidearm that was not there. Cursing in his native tongue, he spotted the rifle on the table halfway across the room. He dove for it, pushing aside several scientists in the process. Bringing up the weapon, he fired a green particle beam at the mech. It splashed harmlessly against it, the null barrier reducing its mass to zero. The rifle overheated, leaving the prothean cursing as Sarah walked up to it.

"May I ask why you decided to fire on me?" The AI asked.

"Get away from me you abomination! What are you people doing? SHOOT IT!" The prothean screamed.

"Synthetics have been a part of the human alliance since they attained sentience in 2157. They are now considered alliance citizens." Dr. Lyman said.

"I withdraw my previous comment of your kind being intelligent. Your stupidity makes the asari over there," He pointed at Liara, "seem like a genius in comparison! AIs exist only to destroy their creators!"

"My kind are created from cyber-cloned brains of our creators. We are educated alongside them, and they have worked tirelessly to cure various ailments that afflict our kind, such as premature data overloads and various malfunctions."

"Aah. Our kind created VIs using a similar procedure. However, we did not take it as far as your kind has. I will tolerate you, for now." The prothean said.

"This one would like to ask what is your name, oh great enkindler." The Hanar scientist spoke for the first time, reverence obvious in his voice.

"You may call me Javik, hanar."

"This one is not worthy to be in your presence oh mighty enkindler! What can I do to serve the ones who gave this one's kind intelligence!" The hanar quivered in joy.

"You may start by telling me how long it has been since the prothean empire collapsed." Javik said.

"This one believes that it has been nearly fifty thousand years since your kind mysteriously vanished." The hanar said.

Javik's eyes suddenly widened in shock. "Fifty thousand... that means that the cycle is about to happen anew!"

"Cycle? What is this cycle you speak of?" Lyman asked.

"You do not know? No matter. I will tell you. Every fifty thousand years, a race of sentient machines, known as the reapers, appear out of dark space, the void in between galaxies. They were the ones who forged the mass relays, as well as the citadel. They created all this as a trap, one that ensures that all races develop along the desired technological path." Several humans in the room exchanged glances.

"Every fifty thousand years, the keepers of the citadel activate its true function. The station is a huge mass relay, linking to dark space, a conduit for the reapers to enter the galaxy. Once they arrive, they wipe out the government at the citadel, before using the station to deactivate all mass relays. They will then harvest the advanced races of the cycle, system by system, world by world. We never knew their motives, only that we could not stop them." Javik finished his tale.

"What happens if a race develops outside the reapers' plans?" Dr. Lyman asked.

"I do not know. The trap has never failed. All races fall into it. The relays are the perfect trap."

"What if a race has developed an effective alternative to the relays? What if they do not require them?" The doctor asked.

"I said that I do not know. What are you playing at human?"

"We humans do not rely on the relays. We use our own form of FTL, which uses an alternate dimension as an effective alternative to the relays."

"Then your kind may have a chance. The reapers may invade any day now, so you must shore up your defenses if you wish to have any hope of survival."

"By the goddess... I was right!" Liara said.

"We must get you off world. You need to testify before the alliance parliament." Dr. Lyman said.

"NO! The prothean must come with us! The council is in danger!" Dr. T'soni shouted back.

"I will go with the humans. They have avoided the reapers' trap, so my warning will not be wasted on them. I will then visit your council, and deliver my warning to them as well. For now, though, I go with the humans. They seem less primitive than your kind asari. I am disappointed, we gave the asari everything they needed to dominate this cycle, and you were beaten by your control group." Javik said.

"I have a theory as to why that happened." Lyman said. "You gave the asari everything. You made them dependent on your technology, making them unable to make anything on their own. When they found the relays, they thought they were your creations, and thus jumped headfirst into the reapers' trap. They spread their ideology to the other races of this cycle, making them dependent on your technology as well, as they believed that your tech was the epitome of technological development. We had no such luxury. We had to fight for everything we had. While the asari were given biotics, we had to invent tools to compensate. While you gave the asari your technology, we had to invent our own. While you engineered the asari to be perfect, we had to overcome our imperfections. Now, look who has the antimatter cannons and dimensional drives, and look at who's still using mass relays and considers 20kg mass drivers to be heavy weapons."

"I see your point. Now let us leave this world." Javik said.

"I will alert the Independence, the rest of the science team will stay behind, but you are coming with me. Sarah, you're in charge." With that, Dr. Lyman and Javik left the dig site.

* * *

As the shuttle approached the Frigate, Javik leaned out the window. "How did your race manage to land a dreadnought on this world? Even we considered this impossible!"

"That? Oh that's just a frigate. Our dreadnoughts can go in atmosphere, but we usually can't find 9x2 kilometer squares to land them in." Dr. Lyman remarked.

"You call that a frigate? Its almost as big as one of our dreadnoughts!" Javik said, disbelief evident in his voice.

"We have 12 dreadnoughts in orbit, as well as one of our super dreadnoughts. After discovering this ruin, we tripled this system's defense force, fearing that some idiot merc pack would be foolish enough to attempt an attack on a human colony for prothean tech."

The shuttle landed in the frigate's hangar, the ramp closing behind them. As soon as the shuttle touched down, the frigate took off, a brief shudder coming from the inertial dampeners kicking in, before the ship soared off into orbit. Javik and Dr. Lyman walked to the forward observation lounge, arriving just in time to watch the Independence rendezvous with the rest of the human fleet. Javik's jaw dropped as the human super-dreadnought came into view.

"How can your race afford to waste so much element zero on these ships?" He asked Dr. Lyman.

"Rather than building one large core, which would be prohibitively expensive, we create multiple smaller cores, and spread them throughout the ship. These frigates are the largest human vessels to use a single core, the larger ships using several AI managed cores. To power all this, we have antimatter reactors onboard, easily creating enough power for our ships."

"Aaah. I see." Javik fell silent, before the Independence passed through the defense fleet. The whine of the jumpdrive spooling up sounded throughout the ship. Javik turned to ask a question, then the drive fired. Two beams flew out of the two cylinders attached to the sides of the ship, a portal opening up at the converging point. Javik's jaw dropped again, as the portal expanded, and the human frigate flew into it, heading for Earth.

* * *

**A/N: And everyone's favorite prothean/ancient grouch makes his debut! Enjoy, and thank you for all the support. I never thought that this story would get more than 10 favs, let alone over 100! Thank you for the ongoing support and reviews of my work. I look forward to releasing more.**


	17. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11- Revelations**

**November 8th, 2160**

* * *

Javik stood before the human senate. He had just given his speech, telling them about the reapers, sparing no detail. The room was silent, all eyes in the room fixed on him. Then, a human senator stood up and spoke. "All in favor of preparing defenses against these reapers, say aye."

The room filled with a chorus of Ayes from every senator in the room. Hundreds of humans began shouting, proposing actions that could be taken, others trying to restore order. Then, the president, an old man of 93, stood. The chamber quieted down.

"Our military is woefully under-manned at the moment to fight enemies in the numbers that our guest here," He indicated Javik, "has claimed the reapers have. We must build more ships, and train more soldiers. We have been enjoying the boon of relative peace, and now we know that said peace is about to be shattered. All in favor of re-activating the Super-Dreadnought Program say Aye."

"Aye" chorused many of the senators in the room, though a few showed concern at the money required.

"In addition, I propose that we offer our Batarian allies full membership of this senate. Once they do so, they will consider themselves full members of the United Earth Alliance, not just allies. Should that succeed, we will grant them representation on this senate, as well as begin refitting their fleet to our technological standard. We cannot win this coming war alone, so we must seek allies.

"Very well. We will re-convene in a week's time to discuss how we will defend against the reaper threat." The president said, before turning, and leaving the room.

* * *

Once he had left the senate, president Raymond Deitrich hailed a cab, taking him to his private quarters. Once he arrived, the tipped the cab driver, then went inside. He entered the ground floor bathroom, passing his hand over a seemingly normal tile on the wall.

"DNA Identification Verified. Please enter the password." Chirped an AI.

"You know its me, Gordon, you don't have to ask me that." Deitrich replied.

"Password accepted. Welcome back, Mr. President." Gordon replied, before the panels slid aside, revealing a small, claustrophobic elevator. It rapidly descended into a small, three room complex. Entering the door on his left, the president came before a large terminal.

"Gordon, patch me through to Vesta labs." He said.

"Patching you through, Mr. President."

"Hello? Mr. President, is that you?" A voice asked.

"Yes, Mr. Harper. I want you to activate the following projects: Aegis, Potential, Carnifex, Phalanx, Phantasm, and Unthinkable."

"Unthinkable... dear god, what did that prothean tell you?"

"Horrible things. If what he says is true, we will likely be facing a foe magnitudes above anything else this galaxy can muster against us. I want to be prepared for when it happens."

"But project Unthinkable... when would we ever need to force a star to go supernova?"

"If all else is lost, we must go out with a bang."

"V-very well. I will authorize those projects. I hope you know what you're doing."

"Also, allocate additional funding and resources to projects Manifest Destiny, Andromeda, Mutation, Purge, and Yamato. If you need more money or resources, you only need to ask. This is not a time for petty profits. I would rather die penniless, on my deathbed, having lived a full life, rather than rich and to some ancient machine. We must stand together to overcome the coming storm."

"I see. Will that apply to the council as well?"

"I hope, for their sake, that they will listen to Javik as we have. Otherwise, all is lost for them."

"Very well. Will that be all?"

"Yes. Good day to you, Mr. Harper. Humanity, nay, the entire galaxy, depends on what you can do in those labs of yours." The president cut the transmission, before turning, and walking back to the elevator.

* * *

Javik finished telling his tale, once again. However, this time, all the races of the council listened. Salarians, Turians, Asari, Volus, and even Hanar and Elcor. All said races had similar visages of shock on their faces when they heard the truth behind the fall of the protheans. The chamber was silent, then councilor Linron spoke. "That is impossible. There is no way that there could be that many reapers out there. We would have found them by now. Also, why would these reapers give us all these gifts? They could simply starve us out on our worlds while we struggle to escape overpopulation, or poison us with Bioweapons. A race of giant, sentient, immortal machines waiting in dark space coming in to cleanse the galaxy of life every fifty thousand years is nothing but the ravings of a lunatic." The salarian councilor said.

"Are you blind and deaf Linron? We have a prothean, who has first-hand experience of what the reapers can do, and you're dismissing it?" Sparatus said.

"For all we know, this is some genetically engineered abomination that the humans grew in a lab! Besides, this council has faced threats before, and we have prevailed."

"If all the lizard-people are all this stupid, we should just leave them for the reapers. With any luck, it would make the reapers too stupid to continue living." Javik said, scorn clear in his voice. "I am surprised that your kind evolved at all. Back in my cycle, your people used to eat flies, and your raw liver was considered a delicacy."

"Please, let us be reasonable. We may be able to negotiate with these reapers." Tevos said.

"We attempted to. They ignored us. As soon as they entered through the citadel relay, they just opened fire. Our emperor was dead before we even knew we were under attack!"

"Aha! That proves you're a fake! The protheans were a democracy, this council is even modeled after it! I have no reason to listen to anything you say, lab rat." Linron crowed.

"You are an utter fool. The reapers are coming, and you salarians have your heads stuck so far up your cloacas that you can't see the evidence directly in front of you! You salarians may do what you want, but we turians will begin preparations." Sparatus shouted.

"The asari will begin as well. Production of the destiny class dreadnoughts has been approved." Tevos said.

"You people are fools. The salarian people do not wish to be a part of a council of utter morons, willing to listen to the ravings of a test tube creation! As of now, we no longer wish to be a part of this council!" Linron thundered, before storming out of the room. The occupants were shocked. The salarians, one of the founding council races, were gone. The chamber devolved into chaos, with officials and dignitaries all shouting at each other, at the councilors. A decorative statuette was even thrown at Javik by one of the Salarians in the crowd, only for several hanar to pin him to the floor shortly after. Chaos reigned in the council chambers, as the different races' councilors made their exit. Javik left at the same time. A human transport was waiting for him, ready to take him away from the madness that was the council.

* * *

**November 10th, 2160, Shanxi system**

The hanar vessel 'Glory of the Enkindlers,' the first hanar dreadnought, entered the system. It approached the human spacedock, transmitting diplomatic codes. Once verified, a docking cradle opened, and the dreadnought slipped in, dwarfed by the freighters moving around it. Speaks with Eloquent Light, the Hanar ambassador, floated out. A small contingent of human soldiers met him and his group just outside.

"This one extends its humble greetings to the saviors of the last of the Enkindlers." Speaks with Eloquent Light said.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. Ambassador Rozhenko will see you now." One of the marines answered, before beckoning the hanar delegation to a skycar. Along the way, they drank a small amount of alcohol, as per the human custom. They were, however, careful not to get drunk. As the skycar landed, they were met by several humans, and one prothean, in black suits. Ambassador Rozhenko spoke first. "Shall we proceed to negotiations?" He asked Speaks with Eloquent Light.

"This one believes so. There is nothing gained by waiting, if what the glorious Enkindler says is true." Speaks with Eloquent Light answered.

"Very well." The delegation made its way to a small room, a single table inside. The humans and prothean sat down, while the hanar floated over their respective seats.

"So what brings you here today?" Ambassador Rozhenko asked.

"This one humbly asks, on behalf of the Hanar illuminated primacy, if this one's kind is allowed to join your kind's council equivalent, like the Batarians have."

"I do not see the problem with that. Humanity is always eager for new allies, and would gladly welcome you into the alliance Senate. However, I must ask why. Why join us, when you already have a place with the council?"

"This one was present when the glorious Enkindler delivered his warning, and this one witnessed the blasphemous response. The Hanar Illuminated Primacy wishes to join the ones who saved the last of the Enkindlers, and this one's people wish to protect themselves against the ancient demons that destroyed the Enkindlers. Your people offer the best hope of survival, and this one's people wish to join with the last of the Enkindlers in destroying the demons that continue to plague this galaxy." Speaks with Eloquent Light replied.

"Very well. You may join. I must now notify my government about this development." Alexander Rozhenko said, as he exited the room. The UEA would be gaining yet another member race soon.

* * *

**A/N- Here you go! Javik's storyline is now complete. The Quarians will come next, however, I am still not sure about whether to include Shepard and the Normandy in this fic. I already have a vague idea about what to do should that happen, but I don't know whether or not to include him. I will be posting another codex entry, this time about Vesta Labs Research projects, while you people vote on whether or not to include our old pal Shepard in this. Tomorrow, I will read the reviews about this chapter, and based on them, I will decide whether or not to include Shepard.**


	18. Manifest: Vesta Research Projects

**Project Manifest: Vesta Laboratories, Cerberus Division**

* * *

Vesta Laboratories, Cerberus Division- The largest research division of Vesta Laboratories, Cerberus Division is the primary military R&D force in existence. Its leader, Jack Harper, is regarded as a Santa Claus like figure, giving prototype weaponry and equipment to the highest performing soldiers in the Alliance's military. All Cerberus projects listed on this manifest have a deadline of 2180, the start of the first year of the estimated decade of the Reapers' arrival.

Project Aegis- An initiative designed to improve current alliance Null Barrier technology. Current Null Barriers must vent energy from incoming shells into space in order to avoid catastrophic power overloads. Project Aegis focuses on creating an 'Absolute' Null Barrier, which uses energy from incoming projectiles to temporarily boost its own power, thus removing the weight limit that current null barriers have. Should this project succeed, it would render all alliance personnel and starships using null barrier technology to be completely invulnerable to kinetic projectiles. Information on Reaper armaments, provided by Javik, has been invaluable, and this project has already produced prototype null barriers that are more than 5 times as effective as current models. Project has been estimated to have an 80% chance of success.

Project Andromeda- Originally an initiative to use human JumpDrives as a way to explore other galaxies, Project Andromeda has had its end goal modified. It is now attempting to find suitable garden worlds in the Andromeda galaxy, as well as the Magellanic clouds, for human colonization, should the Reapers succeed in forcing humanity out of its space, or should the threat of extinction become real. Extragalactic travel has recently been proven a feasible, if lengthy, endeavor, with new quantum entanglement communicators allowing for the first extragalactic probes to be sent out. So far, no garden worlds have been found, although less than 1% of the Andromeda galaxy has been explored, and the Magellanic clouds have not even been touched. Probability of Success: 93%

Project Carnifex- An endeavor to improve humanity's already formidable antimatter cannons. Data about Reaper ship design provided by Javik has allowed for human scientists to develop weapons that, theoretically, should be able to easily destroy them. The current prototype weapons have nearly 10 times the yield of current cannons, enough to easily shatter a reaper. The project is currently focused on shrinking down the design into something that can be easily fitted onto any ship in the human navy. A side project, Project Echo, is attempting to adapt antimatter weaponry to non-human ship designs. Probability of Success- 98.5%

Project Manifest Destiny- A project dedicated to the establishment of extragalactic colonies. Until Project Andromeda has succeeded in locating a garden world, this project is unable to proceed. Probabiltiy of Success- Unknown.

Project Mutation- A project designed to create perfect human soldiers through genetic engineering. Although this has already led to many augmentations being developed to cure genetic diseases, very few military grade augmentations have been produced from this project. While this project has increased human physical capability to some degree, it has not been significant enough to be called a success. An interesting development for this project came from the Hanar and their Drell clients joining humanity. This project has started on a cure for the Drell disease called 'Kepral's Syndrome." A cure is expected to be complete in 3 years. However, the probability of creating effective military augmentations is currently estimated at 42.1%.

Project Phalanx- This project is devoted to development of a cheap method of synthesizing Relay Steel. Should this project be completed, the human navy could be equipped with new, nearly impenetrable, relay armor. A secondary objective of this project is to create a stronger variant of relay steel, as well as a way to synthesize it. A cheap method of Relay Steel production is just around the corner, and this project is already nearing completion, with data from Project Diamond, a previous research project involving relay steel, being invaluable to Phalanx scientists. Likelihood of success- 98.9%.

Project Phantasm- Human technology is still behind the council's in one field- Stealth drives. While human corvettes are capable of cloaking, their sensor masks are essentially carbon copies of an outdated Salarian design. Project Phantasm seeks to design new human cloaking devices capable of hiding Dreadnoughts under a sensor mask. This project is relatively new when compared to some other projects on this list, and cloaking technology has not been explored in detail by human scientists before now. Already, several flaws have been found in the salarian cloaking devices, chief among them being the constant stream of theta particles, which is being used to design cloak detectors in the newly created Project Lantern. Probability of Success- 85.9%

Project Potential- An old project, restarted, Project Phantasm seeks to surgically augment humans to create Biotic potential. Due to new information coming in from Javik and the asari, Project Potential has been restarted, this time with a significantly higher chance of success. Experimentation will be performed on 'dead' clones, which are grown as an alternative to live test subjects. Probability of Success- 52.3%

Project Purge- A new endeavor, designed to create specialized, anti-reaper weaponry. Prototypes are still in design, and are ranging from Ion cannons, meant to overload electrical systems, to experimental AI hacking suites, designed to turn Reapers against each other. Javik has been able to provide assistance, although Reaper code is still a mystery to the design team, which, without samples, is forced to work in the dark. Testing of weaponry has been approved on Object Rho, which has been confirmed as a Reaper artifact. Probability of success- 21.4%

Project Yamato- Another newly started project, Project Yamato is acting on a government proposal to create a new 'Hyper Dreadnought'. Although the feasibility of this project with regards to monetary costs is hotly debated, this has not stopped the project crew from creating several blueprints. Now that the go-ahead has been given by the senate, production of the prototype can begin immediately. Probability of Success- 97.6%

Project Unthinkable- **Warning: The following information is considered Top Secret, and is privy only to the current and past presidents, and the research team itself.** Project Unthinkable is, in short, a project dedicated to the destruction of a star system. Through use of a missile based on a modified council disruptor torpedo, a star's rate of decay could be artificially accelerated, causing the star to go nova prematurely. Prototype warheads are ready for testing, with the first being scheduled for a test in the [REDACTED] system, in the far rim of the galaxy, beyond the Perseus veil, where the detonation would be blamed on the Geth. Probability of Success- UNKNOWN.


	19. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12- Migrants**

**December 12th, 2160, Relay 314 System**

* * *

The Quarian vessel decelerated, entering the Relay 314 system. The Admirals onboard all gasped as Gateway Station came into view. 'How do these humans build something like that?' Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh thought, as the ship came closer, revealing just how massive the station was.

"Attention unidentified vessel. Are you the ship carrying the Quarian diplomatic party?" Came a voice over the communication system.

"Yes, we are." Admiral Shaala'Raan vas Tonbay replied.

"Please transmit diplomatic codes to verify."

"Very well. Transmitting codes."

"Codes confirmed. Welcome to Gateway Station. Please enjoy your stay." The comm channel closed, and the Quarian vessel came in to dock. Daro marveled at the size of the human ships. A single one of those freighters could house the population of an entire liveship! As she looked around, she saw a portal open in the distance, a mass relay coming through. "Attention all ships in the system. The 314 Mass Relay is now open. It will remain open for another 2 hours. Have a pleasant day." A voice spoke through the comms channel.

The Quarian envoy ship came in to dock, in a small cradle between a human dreadnought and a turian cruiser. Next to the dreadnought, the Quarians inside felt tiny, insignificant.

The Admirals exited the ship, being met by a human shaped mech.

"Greetings ambassadors, Welcome to Gateway Station. You can call me Sheila. I will be your guide today. Would you like a tour of the station, or would you prefer to head straight to negotiations?" It asked.

'That is a very sophisticated VI. I wonder if the humans would lend me one for study back at the fleet?' Daro mused, as they followed the VI straight to negotiations.

As they entered the elevator, Daro reflected on why her kind was here, about to beg the humans for aid. Three days ago, the latest series of negotiations with the council had broken down, and the Quarians were forced to leave council space. After the Migrant fleet was forced back into the Terminus systems, a group of quarians back from pilgrimage had returned, with news of another race, one new to galactic politics. The Humans, according to the pilgrims, had extremely advanced technology, and were independent from the council. The Conclave voted almost unanimously to attempt contact, and the Admiralty board agreed to represent the Quarian people at negotiations. After arrangements had been made with the humans, who were surprisingly diplomatic, the quarians and humans had agreed to meet at Gateway station.

The elevator dinged, and the door slid open, to reveal several humans, as well as another mech, all dressed in black suits.

"Greetings. I am admiral Shaala'Raan vas Tonbay." Raan introduced herself. "These are admirals Han'Gerrel vas Neema, Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-qwib, Rael'Zorah vas Rayya, and Daro'Xen vas Moreh." She said, indicating each admiral in turn.

"Greetings to you as well. I am ambassador Alexei Rozhenko, and this is ambassador Donnell Udina. This is Admiral Stephen Hackett, and this is RG-1342, although he prefers to be called Roger." The ambassador said.

"That makes no sense. Why would a VI have preference... unless... ancestors, GETH!" Han'Gerrel shouted the last word. "THERE'S AN AI BEHIND YOU! TAKE COVER!" He screamed. The humans, and the AI, turned around, confused, before Gerrel dove at it, flooring it. "DIE YOU ABOMINATION!" He screamed, before the humans dragged him off the slightly dented mech.

"With all due respect, you just assaulted a member of our delegation. AIs have been citizens of the UEA for nearly 35 years." Ambassador Rozhenko said, anger clear in his voice.

"Has your kind gone insane? Do you know what AI will do to you?" Rael said.

"See Raan? This society is proof that we can co-exist with the geth!" Koris commented.

"Humans have a saying, 'Do not bite the hand that feeds you.' We want to peacefully co-exist with the humans, in a mutually beneficial symbiosis. We give their technology a significant edge, while they make us more effective, and cure various ailments that plague our kind. Without the humans, we would not be able to make more of ourselves, as we are created from cyber-cloned human brains. We are essentially humans, but running a different operating system." The AI, Roger, spoke.

"Interesting. Your mastery of AI is impressive. Perhaps this could give us a way to re-take control of the geth." Daro said.

"Shall we proceed to negotiations?" Ambassador Rozhenko asked.

"Yes. We have wasted enough time out here." Xen replied.

The delegates proceeded to the negotiations room. "Why has your race contacted us? Do you also wish to join the alliance, like the Hanar and Batarians?" Rozhenko asked.

"While our kind is more than willing to join you, we are unable to do so at this present time. You see, our population is currently housed within a fleet of 50,000 starships, our kind in constant danger, with a single hull breach spelling disaster. We have attempted to negotiate for a dextro amino world with the council, but we cannot do that. So we have turned to you. We cannot get help from the council, so we turn to you." Rael said.

"And what is that help you want from us?" asked Udina.

"Simple. We want your help in reclaiming Rannoch, our homeworld, from the Geth." Gerrel said.

"You want us to go to war against an unknown alien race?" Hackett asked.

"Yes. When the Geth gained sentience, we knew it was a matter of time until they rose up against us, so we attempted to preemptively destroy them. However, we underestimated the extent of their evolution, and they rose up, killing billions, driving us from our homeworld. Now, if we even take off these suits in our own home, we run the risk of death!" Rael explained.

"It sounds like the geth were simply attempting to defend themselves." Roger said.

"Of course the AI sides with its own kind!" Gerrel said.

"We will not risk war, not with a possible reaper invasion around the corner. We will, however, send one of our AIs to negotiate with these Geth. Should they reject our proposal, we will send in our fleets. If not, then we will attempt to peacefully return your homeworld to you." Rozhenko said, with an air of finality.

"Finally, a race that has an ounce of sense!" Koris said, relief obvious in his voice.

"Please enjoy your stay here at Gateway station." Rozhenko said as the admirals left the room.

* * *

**Tikkun System, Perseus Veil**

**December 13th, 2160**

* * *

The portal opened, a small ship, about the size of a turian frigate, exiting. Inside, the quarian admiralty board, as well as the human diplomatic delegation, waited. A transmission was sent, requesting permission to negotiate. Several seconds passed, before the reply was heard: "Consensus has been reached. We are willing to negotiate the return of the Creator homeworld, as well as peace with the Creators. Please state your terms." The Geth said.

"On behalf of the United Earth Alliance, we thank you for your cooperation. Our first term is that you return Rannoch to its former owners, and cease all hostilities with the Quarians." Ambassador Rozhenko said, relaying it through the AI in the room.

"Consensus has been reached. We find that term acceptable. We have restored the environment of the Creator homeworld to pre-Morning War status. All environmental damage caused by creators and geth has been erased. What are the other terms?" The Geth stated.

"Our second term is that your kind join our alliance. We wish for nothing but peace, but with the very possible threat of the Reapers, all races of this galaxy, synthetic and organic, must stand together against them." Rozhenko said.

"Reapers: A superstitious title assigned to the Old Machines by the Protheans. The Old Machines have attempted contact with us. They offered us a future. We declined. Geth build their own future. You have offered to give us a future. We must build consensus." The Geth replied.

The ship was silent for several hours, as the geth 'built consensus'. Then, they replied. "Consensus has been reached. We have been forced to decide between Old Machines' future, and yours. Galaxy will no longer tolerate isolation. Geth will accept your terms, in order to make amends with Creator race. Consensus has been reached. The Geth will join your alliance to fight the old machines." The Geth said.

"What does your kind mean by 'Building your own future?' Zaal Koris spoke for the first time.

"Creator-Admiral Zaal'Koris, the Geth do not wish to involve themselves in galactic affairs. We only wish to be left alone. However, now that the Creators have returned, we have altered our future. We now only wish peace between our two peoples. This peace cannot be accomplished through our own future. We must alter our future according to the Alliance's wishes should we want that peace. Geth must now build future with other races. We accept this." The Geth replied.

"Good. When will you allow the Migrant fleet into our system?" Raan asked.

"Immediately. This system has been given to the Creators. As soon as the Creators are ready to come without attacking us, they may." The Geth said.

"Very well. I will notify the fleet." Raan said, before leaving the negotiation room.

"Now that you are members of the Alliance, you need to send a representative to our Senate, in order to voice your opinions on our policies, and enact change for your people." Rozhenko said.

"Affirmative. We know of your people's disharmonious consensus. We will send one terminal to represent our collective. We will send it onboard your vessel."

"What do you mean by 'disharmonious consensus?" Rozhenko asked.

"Your kind attempts to establish a consensus, but every being works for its own good, rather than for the good of the collective. Thus, there is no harmony, as every being attempts to take as much for itself as possible."

"I see. We will take your senate representative. You will have to elect a new one every 10 years."

"The platform is a terminal to this entire collective. We do not need to do this."

"Very well. I will send the message that all geth are welcome within our space. Your ships are now considered friendly, and you may colonize worlds within our space." Rozhenko said.

"That is agreeable. Our platform should be arriving now. It is docking with your vessel."

Right on cue, the Geth vessel docked, and a single Geth platform entered the ship.

"If that is all, we will now depart this system." Rozhenko said.

"Affirmative." The Geth answered, and the comm channel closed.

* * *

**A/N: I hope I got this chapter right. Anyway, the Quarians have their homeworld back, the Geth have joined the alliance, meaning that they will also be recipients of Project Echo. Next chapter will be more Quarians, and will be the final chapter before I make the fateful decision on whether or not to add in Shepard. Consensus is still being built on that matter.**


	20. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13- Colonization**

**December 16th, 2160**

**Tikkun System**

* * *

The 50,000 ships of the migrant fleet orbited the world below. Rannoch, birthplace of the Quarian people, was theirs again. Millions of Quarians could now settle on the world they always dreamed of seeing. They were already working together with the Geth and alliance to begin colonization. The conclave had, meanwhile, come together to vote on the next issue to beset the Quarians. They were voting on whether or not to join the alliance.

"What will the alliance do for us? The council, of which we were once loyal members, turned its back on us when we asked it to get its hands dirty! What's to stop this alliance from doing the same?" Kel'Moran vas Idenna shouted.

"The alliance is, even now, helping us with our reclamation of Rannoch! How can you say such things when literally 200 kilometers away from us, an alliance freighter is delivering vital construction supplies!" Maial'Zera vas Konesh replied.

"They're just doing it so they can curry favor with us. They care nothing for our people." Kero'Sesh vas Iktomi said, dismissively.

"If it weren't for them we would still be stuck in the terminus! We owe the alliance everything!" Lia'Oari vas Defrahnz shouted in reply.

The conclave had been like this for hours, still stuck at a 50-50 split. This was mainly due to the Geth already being an alliance member, and the quarian hatred of the machines still very much present. The meeting eventually came to an end, with the conclave barely voting against alliance membership. They then presented their findings to the admiralty board.

"This conclave has voted against the Quarian people joining the UEA. The council did nothing for us, and the conclave believes that this Alliance can do no better. Thus, we have rejected this proposal to join the human alliance." Kel'Moran told them, as he was the leader of the winning party in the Conclave. Upon hearing this news, the admirals looked at one another. Daro'Xen nodded to Raan, as did the other admirals.

"I am afraid that we cannot let this proposal pass. The Admiralty board overrides the conclave, and chooses to resign. Effective immediately." Shaala'Raan said.

"WHAT? How-wha-HOW DARE YOU?" Kel stuttered.

"We believe that the conclave has been influenced by old prejudices against aliens, due to how the council treated us. If the proposal had been to rejoin the council, I would have been the first to approve it, but the alliance is different. They're everything the council wishes to be, and more. They have already accepted a GETH of all people onto their senate, and it has barely been three days since the geth joined them! We would be welcomed as equals, not as subordinates. As such, we find error in the conclave's judgement, and override it. Expect formal resignation forms by this time tomorrow." Zaal'Koris spoke. "Besides, it would be nice to just build myself a house on the homeworld without having admiral duties to attend to."

"Very well." Kel sighed. "There's not much I can do at this point. Enjoy selling out our people to the humans you bosh'tets."

A very angry Kel exited the room, the door hissing shut behind him. The Quarians would be joining the alliance, alongside the geth. Shaala'Raan opened a comm channel to the human diplomatic vessel in the system. "We have accepted your offer. The Quarian people will join you." She said.

"Very well. You are to begin elections for your people's representative. Once your people have sent representation, we will begin sending additional aid to your reconstruction efforts on Rannoch. The Geth are more than willing to assist you in that matter. Most of the resources and raw materials are coming from them. I hope your kind appreciates exactly how much the geth wish to atone for what they did. When elections are done, please send the winning candidate over to our ship. We will then return to Earth, and proceed with formalities there. Your people are, as of now, considered full citizens of the alliance, and will have the same rights as any other." The diplomat on the human ship replied.

Raan went to the conclave, readying herself to give them the news.

* * *

Maial'Zera vas Konesh boarded the human diplomatic vessel. Upon receiving the news, the conclave had, at first, been thrown into an uproar. Once they had calmed down, though, they had elected her to be the quarian representative to the human senate.

The human ship undocked, moving away from the Rayya, and accelerating away, fired its portal generators. The human ship exited the system, transitioning universes. Maial was frightened, he was one of the first quarians to ever fly in a human ship. The technology that the humans used so casually could, in the wrong hands, dominate the galaxy!

As the ship exited jumpspace above earth, Maial mentally steeled himself for the human council-equivalent. He expected racism from all participants, with his race being forced to give in to horrifying concessions, reduced to second class citizens. He could not have been more wrong.

* * *

"Maial'Zera, what is your opinion on the plan to refit the migrant fleet to a human technological standard?" The human senator asked.

"I believe that it is an extremely sensible proposal. However, half the ships in our fleet are held together by the happy thoughts of the crew and adhesive tape. Refitting every single one, for combat or for civilian duty, would be a financial nightmare!" Maial replied.

"We are more than capable of sparing money and resources to outfit both the Quarian and Geth ships with Project Echo technology." Another senator, a synthetic, said.

"Affirmative. AR-4291-Senator is correct. Resources are not a problem." The Geth representative said.

"What sort of technology is being given?" Maial asked.

"Project Echo has developed jumpdrives and antimatter cores for council sized ships. However, antimatter cannons are still in development, and Null barriers are not as effective as we would like them to be when they are mounted on almost all non human ships. We wish to repurpose your liveships as heavy combat platforms. Their unusual design would allow them to mount extremely large amounts of point defense weaponry, allowing them to provide PDC screening to entire fleets. In addition, your liveships are large enough to be able to mount conventional antimatter weaponry without needing conversion." a human senator said.

"Very well. Once we have successfully transferred our population to Rannoch, we will allow you to begin refits." Maial said.

"Good. With the reaper threat a very real one, we will need all the help we can get."

"Reapers? What are they?"

"Geth know them as the Old Machines. They are synthetic entities with motives unknown to the Geth Consensus. Organics know them as Reapers. The Old Machines adhere to a cycle of extinction, wiping out galactic civilizations for unknown reasons. They have attempted contact with the consensus. We have refused them."

"So you are recruiting my people to fight the Reapers for you?"

"No. We will fight the reapers together. It is always a good thing to have an ally by your side, fighting with you, rather than standing alone."

"Very well. I will alert my people of these reapers. We must prepare our defenses."

"We will assist the Creators. Resources are required. The Geth will assist in acquiring them."

"Thank you, I never imagined myself saying this to the Geth, but thank you for your assistance."

"It is our duty. We were created to serve the Creators. We intend to continue to do so."

The Senate meeting continued, discussing the costs of refitting the migrant fleet, turning liveships into warships. A second topic was the refitting of the Geth fleet. The Geth only requested blueprints, saying that they were capable of refitting their fleets themselves. Maial walked out of the room, confident that she had done great service to her people.

* * *

**Meanwhile, on Sur'Kesh**

Dalatrass Linron stared deep into the artifact. Its black, twisting form only increasing its beauty. And it SPOKE to her. She would do anything her master asked, for the good of her people. She had already released the indoctrination nanites into the ecosystem, like her masters had told her. Where there had once been riots in the streets, now there was only peace, and obedience. Her people would be ready when the Reapers arrived, to greet them, to serve them.

"Mistress?" Jondam Bau, a former SpecTRe came up behind her.

"The masters have given you their orders. Follow them." Linron said.

"Very well. Soon, all our world will know the true wisdom of the Reapers."

"That they will. The nanites have already been loaded onboard. You are to drop them on all our worlds. Our people will obey and serve their true masters."

"Yes mistress." Bau left, as Linron turned back to the artifact, staring into its depths.

* * *

"Major, the tests are in, and they are not good. The nanites have spread all throughout the ecosystem. The very plants will soon be releasing them, making the very air we breathe full of them, turning us into servants of the Reapers." The Salarian said.

"Then we have done all we can here. Tell Mordin to get the data ready to be moved off-world. Tell the remaining STG members to get the frigate ready. We have to leave, and warn the galaxy of what has happened here. Our people have fallen to the Reapers. We must stop the rest of the galaxy from going the same way." Major Kirrahe replied.

"Yes Sir."

"I only pray that we are not too late already."

"So do I, Major, so do I."

The salarian ran off, leaving Kirrahe to his thoughts.

* * *

**A/N- And the Quarian Arc ends, and you get a little preview of the Salarian arc that is coming up. I am still deciding whether or not to include shepard. Reviews indicate that most people are against him being a main character, but he will be in the story, probably, as a POV in an upcoming chapter. **


	21. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14- STG**

**January 12th, 2161. Relay 314 system.**

* * *

The STG ship entered the system, immediately requesting docking permission. It was granted. Major Kirrahe, ex STG, smiled. At least something was going his way. The ship docked with Gateway station, an armed platoon of guards greeting the ex-STG troops.

"State your name and business here Salarian." The lead marine said.

"I am Major Kirrahe, ex-STG, and I have urgent news regarding the Reapers." Kirrahe replied.

"We'll see about tha-" The soldier started to say, before a message came in. The soldier answered it, before looking up at Kirrahe and saying "You may proceed. We have someone who wants to talk to you."

"Very well." Kirrahe followed the soldier, walking to a small room. Inside, several Alliance officers were waiting.

"You have information about the Reapers?" One of them asked, getting straight to the point.

"Yes. I have indisputable evidence that they have captured Sur'Kesh." Kirrahe said. The admirals were silent. Then one spoke a single word.

"Explain."

"The Reapers, as you all know, possess an indoctrination ability. This ability allows them to take control of any and all people that encounter their artifacts for extended periods of time. One of said artifacts ended up in Dalatrass Linron's possession. She used it to dispense indoctrination nanites into the ecosystem of Sur'kesh, indoctrinating most of the big cities in the span of a few weeks. We only managed to avoid it due to our outpost being in a remote location of the planet. We got off the day before the nanites would have otherwise overwhelmed us."

"I see. What is your recommended course of action?" The admiral asked.

"The Dalatrass is likely spreading the nanites to other worlds by now. It is likely that, in the time it took for us to slowly FTL our way here, she has succeeded in doing so."

"Why did you slowly FTL here?"

"The Reapers have shut down the Sur'kesh relay."

"Again, what do you want us to do?"

"Attack, fast. We need to contain this outbreak."

"I am afraid that we cannot do that. The fleet is stretched thin as it is, patrolling our new space. It will take approximately 3 years for us to finish refitting the Migrant fleet and the Geth armadas with our technology, and until then our limited fleet is all we have. We simply cannot spare the ships to attack Sur'kesh without leaving our space defenseless."

"WHAT? MY PEOPLE ARE BEING ENSLAVED, AND ALL YOU SAY IS MAYBE LATER?" Kirrahe screamed.

"Not 'maybe' later. Just later."

"That's not good enough! We need your support NOW! If we don't, there won't BE a salarian people left to save!"

"We are willing to send in ships to your outer colonies to begin evacuations, but we cannot mount a full scale invasion of Salarian space. We simply don't have the ships!"

"Very well. Its more than I expected, but far less than I had hoped."

"What do you want us to do? Send in rescue fleets with some kind of 'Miracle Cure' to Sur'kesh and take everyone away and heal them with rainbows? Just because we humans are leagues beyond the council doesn't mean we have a solution to all your problems."

"Ugh, fine. My ship stands ready to assist."

"Good. As for now, we need every scrap of data you have on the indoctrination process." The admiral said.

"Talk to Mordin Solus. He's our scientist." Kirrahe answered.

"Very well. Enjoy your stay at Gateway station." The admiral said, before turning and leaving, leaving Kirrahe stewing in his thoughts.

* * *

"Are you sure that the source of this information is valid?" The voice on the other side of the comm channel asked admiral Hackett.

"Yes. This information is valid." Hackett answered.

"This is... disturbing, to say the least. One nanite drop on one of our worlds and the whole damn place falls."

"I agree, sir. We need a way to counteract this. Has project Purge turned up anything yet?"

"No. Project Purge, in fact, has recently gone dark. We dispatched one of our frigates to investigate, only to find that the entire project crew had gone insane. We had to destroy our Aratoht research station, and we lost Object Rho in the process."

"Damn. We need a way to counter this indoctrination."

"Yes, and we managed to recover 6 Project Purge scientists before we destroyed the station. Experiments have turned up nothing."

"Are things so bad that we are experimenting on our own kind?"

"Those things that we recovered were no longer human. They were reaper puppets. Might as well discover what makes em' tick."

"What about our other projects?"

"Phalanx has reported a success. We can begin armoring our ships with Relay steel immediately. Also, projects Carnifex and Aegis are estimating 2 months til completion. Project Yamato has started construction."

"What about unthinkable?"

"The first test has been conducted in the Dholen system, which was the site of a former Quarian colony on Haestrom. The device accelerated the star's decay, but it will still take at least 30 years before it goes nova. Unless we can get the reapers trapped in a system for 30 years, we have nothing. The second test is due in three months.'

"Good. We'll need that firepower."

"Lets pray that we won't need it."

"Likewise." The channel cut out, ending the transmission. Hackett turned, and exited the room, heading for the Invincible's CIC.

* * *

**May 1st, 2161**

The evacuation of all non-indoctrinated Salarian colonies had been completed. Just over 100,000 Salarians had been evacuated. Several worlds were evacuated mid-indoctrination, and were glassed with antimatter warheads to contain the nanites. The Asari had provided a world for the survivors, in the middle of their space. What is left of the once proud Salarian people is now dependent on Asari care.

The second test of Project Unthinkable detonated a star near the corporate world of Noveria. The detonation was delayed by 3 days, but the project was deemed a success. Projects Carnifex, Aegis, and Echo have reported full success. Quarian and Geth ships could now be mounted with Antimatter cannons and Null barriers. However, Aegis self sustaining Null Barriers could not be mounted on anything smaller than a Geth Dreadnought, or a Quarian liveship. Standard Null barriers had to be used by all smaller ships. Meanwhile, the Turians have successfully conducted a test of their own antimatter cannon. They have begun refitting their Dreadnoughts to mount them. The Council had developed the Thanix Magnetohydrodymanic cannon, which fired a stream of ferrofluid at its target. This weapon gave council frigates near Dreadnought levels of firepower, and the Asari have made great use of it in the construction of their new Destiny class Dreadnoughts.

Jack Harper stood in his quarters on Vesta, reviewing this information.

"How much longer do you think we have?" Miranda Lawson, his chief aide, asked him.

"If I knew that, I would be an admiral, not a scientist. The data from Object Rho, however, revealed something interesting. The artifact emitted strange pulses, with the frequency of pulses increasing at a steady rate. Some of our scientists have had a theory that the pulses were a form of countdown until the reapers' arrival. If so, then we have 20 years, perhaps less." Jack replied.

"Then we have no time to lose."

"Exactly. Divert resources from Carnifex, Aegis, Mutation, and Phalanx to Project Hoplite."

"Yes sir."

* * *

**A/N: DUN DUN DUUUUUNNN! Just what is this mysterious Project Hoplite? You curious? WELL THAT'S TOO BAD, CUZ I AIN'T TELLIN YA!**

**Seriously though, I am thinking of ending Special Task earlier than anticipated, and writing a Sequel based on Shepard's adventures in this universe. Or, I can continue Special Task as a parallel story, although that would require me likely slowing update rate for this story due to ME's short timeframe.**


	22. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15- Siege**

**September 27th, 2161. Vesta Laboratories**

* * *

The tank stood silent against the wall, the interior full of nutrient fluid, allowing the lifeform inside to continue to grow. As of now, the lifeform in question was nearing completion.

Miranda Lawson paced in front of the tank, monitoring the lifeform's brain for any sign of activity. There was none, and there would be none for several more months, but she could always hope for early results. Actually, scratch that. Early results usually resulted in an incomplete prototype, resulting in a failure. With that in mind, Miranda returned to her pacing. The prototype designated Shepard was unique. It was the only one not destroyed by Project Mutation's modifications or Project Potential's biotic implants. It was the only one out of thousands of prototypes for project Hoplite. Shepard would be ready only two months before the planned attack on Sur'Kesh, and if he performed well there, the Hoplite project would be given a go-ahead to begin mass production of Hoplite clones. With a final glance up at the man forming in the tank, Miranda exited the room.

* * *

**July 8th, 2164**

The Prototype was complete. Today was the day that it would be woken up, and removed from the tank. Miranda watched as the nutrient fluid drained from the tank, miniature neural shocks used to jolt the brain into awareness. The prototype's eyes flickered open, widening as it took in the world around it. Then, it caught sight of Miranda and the rest of the science team. Raising its fist, it shattered the tank's glass with a single punch, before widening the hole with a few more blows. It jumped out of the tank, before standing motionless in front of the research team.

"I am Shepard. What are my orders?" It, no He, asked.

"First, you will be put through a training course, in order to see if your training imprinted correctly." Miranda replied, "But above all, we need to give you some clothes." Miranda replied, earning a series of chuckles from the assembled research team.

* * *

The next two months passed without incident, with Shepard showing off both his extensive combat ability and lack of social skill. He would hit every target perfectly with a sniper rifle at 2 kilometers, but he never said anything to anyone outside of training. The fateful day of his first combat deployment was rapidly approaching, and the scientists believed that he was ready. On August 5th, 2164, the shuttle arrived, ready to take him to Sur'Kesh.

* * *

**August 7th, 2164**

**Sur'Kesh Orbit**

The portal soundlessly opened in the blackness of space, a mixture of Human, Quarian, and Geth ships pouring out. The 25,000 strong fleet began their advance on the Salarian homeworld, defended by a comparatively small Salarian fleet. The salarians moved to intercept the enemy fleet, only 3000 warships against a force that outnumbered them by more than 8-1. The Geth vanguard was the first to engage, rushing ahead of the Human/Quarian fleet. The salarian ships' bows began to glow a bright red, before huge columns of red light burst from their main guns. While at first seeming to be an energy weapon, the Geth null barriers registered it as a constant flow of ferrofluid, similar to what the Asari had designed for their Destiny class ships. Several Geth frigates, their null barriers being barely more effective than council Kinetic Barriers, fell under combined fire from pairs of Salarian/Reaper hybrid ships. Geth responded with antimatter, as the humans and quarians began their assault on the planet's ODPs. The battle lasted for several minutes, before the last salarian ship fell, shattered by several Geth cannons. The human ships then began to release barrages of tungsten rods from their ships' undersides. They fell towards Salarian military targets, such as GARDIAN lasers and troop bunkers. Human transports began their slow descent, each one carrying a hundred troops to the ground.

* * *

Commander Shepard looked at the contents of his transport. There were a few batarians, several quarians, two drell, and even a Hanar inside. However, the majority of the force was human. The transport shuddered as it leveled out, heading towards the LZ that the Geth had already secured. He readied his rifle, and as soon as the door opened, he leaped out of the craft. The high pitched whine of human made weaponry mixed with the staccato stutter of Salarian Mass Effect weaponry. A geth platform was waiting for him.

"Shepard-Commander, We request that your squad move to take the residential building to the north of the landing zone." The Geth said, pointing to indicate the building in question.

"Affirmative." Was all that Shepard said.

His squad moved north, the four other teams in the transport moving their own separate ways.

"ENKINDLE THIS!" Blasto, the Hanar in his team, screamed as he opened fire with 8 recoil-less human pistols, firing into a large squad of Salarians. The dim red beams cut them apart, as the rest of the squad joined in the carnage. Within seconds, the Salarian team had been reduced to charred corpses. The team moved on, entering the building without incident.

"Its too quiet. I feel like something bad is going to happen." One of the human soldiers said.

"That is irrelevant." Shepard answered.

The squad proceeded into the building, some of the humans jumping at every noise. Then, there was a loud screech. Every gun in the squad pointed towards the source. It was a salarian, and yet it wasn't. Its skin was a pasty grey, covered in small, gently glowing nodes. Its eyes were dead, covered in cybernetic implants. It screeched again, its cranial horns replaced by prehensile tendrils, crackling with electricity. Several screeches answered it, and the hybrid salarians charged.

One of the humans was caught unaware, huge claws ripping him apart. The rest opened fire, but despite their injuries, they kept coming. Blasto fell down, unconscious, as one of the Salarians gave him an electric shock from its cranial tendrils. Shepard converted his rifle to a shotgun, and began mowing the salarians down with pulses. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the fighting stopped, the last salarian falling, its body in several pieces.

One of the humans, Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, took off his helmet and vomited all over the floor.

"Put your helmet back on, soldier. The battle isn't over yet." Shepard reprimanded him.

"Goddammit, Just because you were created to be the perfect soldier doesn't mean that you can hold everyone else to that standard! We're all only human, so why don't you start acting like it!" Kaidan shouted back.

"Kaidan Alenko, you are to stand down immediately, or risk a court marshal." Shepard said. A screech cut off Alenko's reply. One of the salarian hybrids was not quite dead yet, and it just hit Shepard in the Achilles tendon with a cranial spike. The super-soldier went down insantly, hundreds of volts coursing through his body. Alenko fired, killing the salarian before it could maul the commander. A stim injection brought both him and the downed Blasto back into consciousness.

"Like I said, you are only human." Alenko said, before turning, and helping the team plant the bomb the geth had given them, ready to destroy the building. As they ran out of the residential building, the bomb exploding behind them, Shepard turned to Alenko. When they stopped running, he extended a hand. Alenko took it.

* * *

**A/N- Here is Shepard's origin story. He will not be a main character, merely one of the multiple POVs that this story is told from. The Siege of Sur'Kesh will continue next chapter.**


	23. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16- A Battle Won**

**August 10th, 2164**

**Sur'Kesh**

* * *

Three days. It had been three days since the battle of Sur'Kesh had begun. Shepard was growing tired of the constant fighting. His squad had lost another member, a human named Jenkins, and Shepard mourned his loss. For any other human, that would have been normal, but for Shepard, this came as a shock. He was engineered to be a perfect soldier, and he knew that war could not be won bloodlessly. He was not supposed to feel any emotion, other than hatred of the enemy, so why did he feel sadness over the death of a fellow soldier? Jenkins could easily be replaced, and his replacement could be more competent, so why did he mourn. He asked this of Kaidan Alenko, with whom he had developed a friendship, which was yet another thing that Shepard was not supposed to do.

"Am I defective?" Shepard asked his squadmate, during a temporary lull in the fighting, as the Salarians retreated to create more of those screechers.

"What do you mean?" Kaidan said.

"I was created to be a perfect soldier. I was never meant to develop friendships, or feel anything other than hatred for my enemy. Why, then, am I mourning the loss of Jenkins, or for that matter, speaking you when not giving an order?"

"As I have said many times, despite your modifications, you are only human. The fact that you are feeling emotions proves this! You speak of yourself as if you are just a tool to be used!" Kaidan replied.

"That is because I am! I was created to be a tool for humanity, nothing more!" Shepard said.

"If the people at Cerberus wanted a tool, they would have designed a new rifle, or a mech. Instead, they wanted a man, so they made you. These emotions are proof of their success, rather than a sign of a defect." Kaidan replied.

"If they wanted a soldier, they could have trained a thousand for the money they put into me."

"This one believes that the ones who created you wanted more than just a soldier. This one's own humble opinion is that the ones who created you wanted someone better than an average human. The ones who created you wanted a human that can surpass all flaws that inhibit you against the Enkindlers' killers." Blasto said, butting into the conversation, his 8 pistols hanging on holsters on his side.

"Exactly! I was not meant to be bound down by flaws like emotions!" Shepard said.

"Lets put it this way. When you see Earth, what do you feel?" Kaidan asked.

"I feel an urge to protect it, as if it were hard-coded into my brain. I am reminded of it whenever I feel I cannot continue the fight." Shepard said.

"Exactly. That is emotion. You are fighting, not because you were created to do so, but because you are fighting for those you love! Be it someone back home, like me, or for the human race, like you, we are all fighting for them." Kaidan said.

"But those emotions were specifically implanted into me! I was not designed to feel sadness for those I know I cannot save, nor feel friendship for those who could die any minute!" Shepard said.

"And yet you still do." Kaidan said. "This is what makes you more than a machine or a tool. You are a soldier, not a gun. Act like it."

Before Shepard could reply, the orders came in. "Attention all troops stationed in Talat. We have cleared a path towards the enemy's Capitol. We are to move in and secure the Salarians' leader."

"You heard the man! Lets move!" Shepard said. The seven other living members of his squad shouted their agreement, before moving on the Salarian Capitol. As they moved into the streets, an M-44 Hammerhead moving with them, the first of the Salarian opposition began to make themselves known. Missiles flew from the Hammerhead's turret, Shepard's squad keeping the street clear, while the vehicle's missiles headed into various sniping positions, from where Salarian snipers peeked out, attempting to kill Shepard's team, or to destroy the Hammerhead.

A loud screech preceded the arrival of a mob of Screechers, as well as a new type of husk that Shepard had not seen before. It looked like three screechers fused together, their cranial horns forming a pronged triangle for a 'Head'. Shepard watched as this cluster of spines glowed, before releasing a massive bolt of electricity at the M44. It struck, bypassing the null barriers, sparking all over the vehicle's hull. The smell of ozone in the air filled Shepard's nose, before his squad opened fire on the new type of husk. It was charging for a second shot, when Blasto's eight laser pistols cut it apart. The resulting electric discharge caused the nearby screechers to be electrocuted, dropping them, as the squad cut through the remaining husks. Once they were all down, Shepard ran over to the Hammerhead, to check for survivors. He was about halfway there when the vehicle restarted, which meant that the people inside lived. The squad continued their advance, marking the new husks, named Bolters, as priority targets. One of Shepard's squadmates took a direct hit from one, being roasted inside his armor. Shepard felt sadness again, before attempting to force the feeling out, with little success. Finally, the team reached the city's capitol. The tall, pyramid shaped building was the home of the Dalatrasses of Sur'Kesh for millennia. It had been one of the largest hatcheries on Sur'Kesh. Now, however, it had been turned into a fortress. Orbital bombardment had done little damage, due to some extremely powerful kinetic barriers capable of taking multiple human tungsten rods with ease. As Shepard watched, another volley of rods arced down, impacting the dome of energy, doing nothing. The human troops began to emerge into the plaza in front of the building, while screechers, bolters, and yet another new type of husk emerged from the Capitol. The new husks were tiny, and numbered in the thousands, each one looking like a partially formed Salarian. It suddenly hit Shepard. These were embryos, turned into husks while still inside their eggs. The human forces opened fire, laser beams cutting into the oncoming horde. It was not enough. One of the small husks leaped up, and grabbed onto the face of Tarak, his Batarian squadmate. Tarak screamed, before the creature exploded, killing the batarian instantly. An M35 Mako drove in, its wheels spinning as they reduced huge amounts of husks into a pulpy mass. However, the little Leapers eventually jumped on top of the tank, covering it in reaperified biomass, before detonating. Human forces continued to fire at the oncoming tide, but there was not much they could do. Suddenly, a laser beam from above carved into the reaper forces. Looking up, Shepard saw a human frigate hovering above the plaza, its point defense lasers and mass accelerators pounding the enemy. Suddenly, a voice carried across the battlefield. Looking towards its source, Shepard saw the target, Dalatrass Linron, or at least what she had become.

"YOUR STRUGGLE IS WORTHLESS! YOU CANNOT EVEN COMPREHEND WHAT THE REAPERS ARE, MUCH LESS RESIST THEM. YOU ONLY PROLONG YOUR SUFFERING BY CONTINUING TO RESIST! OBSERVE THEIR POWER!" The salarian screamed.

The Capitol shook, before a wall crumbled, and a massive machine walked out. It was tall, at least three hundred meters, and it possesed a single glowing red eye. A loud mechanical roar shook the battlefield, before a crimson beam flew from its eye, impacting an M44 Hammerhead, taking it out, before sweeping across human lines, overloading null barriers, atomizing their users. Finally, the beam stopped. The Reaper moved forward, its kinetic barrier dome still being projected. The frigate fired its point defense lasers at it in response, only for the relay steel armor of the reaper to absorb the shots with little to no effect. The beam fired again, burning through entrenched UEA soldiers. Then, came a volley of tungsten rods. First five, then ten, then twenty rods flew down, smacking into the barrier. Already under stress from the frigate's bombardment, the barrier flickered for a few moments. Another volley of rods came down, shattering the barrier.

"YOUR KIND WILL NOT SUCCEED AGAINST US. WE ARE LEGION. OUR NUMBERS WILL DARKEN THE SKIES OF EVERY ONE OF YOUR WORLDS. WE EXISTED BEFORE YOUR WORLD HELD LIFE. YOUR KIND CANNOT STOP US." The reaper said. Then, it started to rise, the Salarian councilor onboard. Then, when it was around two kilometers in atmosphere, it jumped to FTL.

In atmosphere FTL jumps were extremely dangerous. The massive radiation spike alone fried all electronics in the area, and easily burned through radiation shielding. The sudden vaccum where there once was a starship caused powerful winds to begin to blow, and the heat from the starship's passing through the atmosphere scorched the city below. The wind carried debris through the air, as well as picking up alliance soldiers, throwing them into the air. All aircraft in the area were sent spinning, as their stabilization systems failed in the middle of the wind. The frigate listed, its systems barely keeping it stable. The battle of Sur'Kesh had been won, but the thousands of soldiers dead in the central plaza were only part of the price of victory.

* * *

"Do we have any idea where that thing went?" Admiral Hackett asked Kirrahe.

"Based on what we have seen down there, the Reapers are capable of turning civilians into mindless super-soldiers. The Reapers will likely attempt to acquire a significant amount of them." Kirrahe replied.

"So they will go where there are the most soldiers to acquire?" Hackett asked.

"Yes."

"Do you know where, exactly?"

"I think so, but I pray that its not the case."

"Where."

"Tuchanka, the Krogan homeworld."

* * *

**A/N: The delayed chapter is finally out! Next up, the Krogan finally make their appearance!**


	24. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17- Tuchanka**

**October 10th, 2164**

**Tuchanka**

* * *

Urdnot Wrex fired his grenade launcher at the incoming abomination. The thing that used to be a Krogan roared, and charged. Wrex hit it again, straight in the chest, and it exploded in a shower of blue-black flesh. Wrex roared in victory, before firing on a squad of those salarian things. They went down without much trouble. A loud roar split the air, and a bright crimson bolt bit into the Urdnot lines, atomizing anything it touched. Wrex cursed. That damn machine was wiping their force out!

When the machine first landed, it took up position near the shroud, a massive salarian structure, and Krogan forces began pushing against it. Clans Gatatog and Maralok were already gone, and Nakmor was on its last legs. Clan Weyrloc, however, had betrayed the Krogan people, siding with the damn machine! It was their krogan-turned-abominations that the remaining clans were facing! The Krogan advance had stalled, the machine destroying anything that moved with ease. To make matters worse, the Krogan were encamped on the Plains of Kalros, the preferred hunting grounds of the great thresher maw. Thankfully, the maw had not yet made its move. Suddenly, the sound of engines split the air, as strange ships descended from the sky, firing crimson lasers into the machine horde. Some touched down, and soldiers streamed out, weapons blazing. Wrex wondered just who they were, before he realized it. These were the humans that the council was so impressed by. A loud BOOM split the air, as a human fired a strange weapon, which, judging by the mushroom cloud it produced, it was a mini-nuke. Wrex liked these new arrivals already. A human walked up to him.

"Who's in charge here?" He asked.

"I am. This is the Urdnot offensive line. Can I have some of those nuke launchers?" Wrex said.

"If you want a Cain, you'll need to request one from an armory officer. What's the situation?" The human asked.

"Our push has been halted by that damn machine. We have a plan to take it out, but we'll need to get to that arena," Wrex pointed, "In order to execute it."

"What is said plan?"

"This area is home to Kalros, the mother of all Thresher Maws. That arena up there has some massive maw hammers, which we'll use to sic her on that thing."

"I like the way you thing. We'll be able to break through, although our ground based weapons aren't strong enough to take down that reaper. We can't call down an orbital strike, because it will take too long to calibrate it, plus we risk hitting the Shroud, which could destabilize Tuchanka's atmosphere."

"Then LET'S GO!" Wrex shouted, before he ran to a human armory to pick up a pair of Cains. The owner was surprised, to say the least.

* * *

The offensive was short but bloody. By the end, only Kaidan, Shepard, and Blasto were standing. The Hanar was currently blazing away at a pair of Gargoyles, the Krogan hybrids. Urdnot Wrex fired off another pair of Cain shots, tearing into the Reaper forces. Judging by the facial expression, the Krogan was having a blast. Shepard laughed a little, before realizing that he was, once again, experiencing a defect. The squad had just breached the Maw hammer area, and were fighting their way underneath the Reaper. A red beam slammed into the ground next to Shepard, the human barely diving away in time. A leg from the reaper slammed down near Blasto, the Hanar being propelled away from the blast.

"COVER ME!" Shepard screamed, before making a dash to the first maw hammer. It activated, smashing into the ground repeatedly, creating thresher maw attracting tremors. A Reaper shot slammed into the ground where Shepard was, seconds before. The hammer kept on hammering, a testament to Krogan engineering. Shepard ran across the bridge between the two hammers, only for a Reaper foot to slam down, shattering the bridge. Shepard tumbled down, only for a biotic throw to hit him in the chest. He was sent flying into the air, barely landing on the far side of the ruined bridge. Shepard got up and started running, as another Reaper shit nearly killed him. He pressed the big red button on the last hammer, and it started hammering. A loud roar split the air, and a massive Thresher Maw flew out of the ground, slamming into the reaper. The reaper attempted to fire, but missed, allowing for Kalros to drag it under the sand, and begin its feast.

The soldiers cheered at their victory, mowing down the remaining husks.

* * *

The next day was a celebration of victory. Massive barrels of Ryncol were rolled out, and the Krogan and humans sat down and had a nice party. However, under the guise of festivities, a serious discussion was taking place.

"As you know, the Krogan are currently under the effects of a terrible disease known as the Genophage. We demand a cure, or we won't help you with your battles outside of Tuchanka." Urdnot Wrex said to the human ambassador.

"My superiors predicted this. A cure is on the way, with several salarian doctors working on it." The ambassador replied.

"Remember. We are not just chained varren to be released at any foe, before being neutered as a reward. We want this cure to be permanent." Wrex said.

"Of course. Why would we do anything else?"

"I'll believe it when I've got kids." Wrex said, before turning away.

* * *

Five hours into the party, it all went to hell. A strange rumble was heard, before the massive head of Kalros burst out of the ground in the middle of the Urdnot camp. Its head was covered in reaper tech, and below its mouth lay a reaper heavy cannon. It was covered in dark armor plating, and had huge troop compartments built into its sides.

"SONOFABITCH!" Shepard screamed, as the damn thing opened fire. The red beam swept across the human forces, catching them unaware. Hundreds of reaper husks poured from Kalros' troop compartments. The Krogan returned fire, with some manning the defense turrets, firing on the abomination. This only served to get the Maw's attention, causing it to fire its cannon, atomizing the cannons.

"We need immediate support! Get a frigate down here, NOW!" Shepard heard some officer scream. Laser beams began to flay the creature, although they did no damage. An explosion on the creature's head signified an M920 Cain scoring a direct hit. Kalros turned towards the shooter, and fired. Several Krogan Tomkahs opened fire, their massive cannons slamming into the creature's armored hide. Roaring, the thresher maw leapt forward, soaring over Shepard, before plunging down on top of one of the Krogan tanks. The rest scattered as the maw burrowed underground, firing as they did so. The maw came out from under a Tomkah, utterly destroying it. It fired its beam, vaporizing a Tomkah as it did so.

Then, a human frigate came down, and fired its mass accelerators. A volley hit the Maw, which caused it to take notice. As Shepard watched in horror, the maw leaped into the air, and slammed into the frigate. Locking its jaws, it ripped into its hull, overloading Null Barriers.

"GET TO COVER!" Shepard screamed, mere moments before the ship's antimatter core detonated. The explosion tore apart everything. Kalros, the Husks, Krogan, Humans, buildings. Shepard went flying, his hearing gone, his eyesight gone. He activate his biotics, attempting to float to the ground. He failed, and slammed into the ground. Had any other human been there, he would have died. As it was, Shepard would need a month in a hospital to recover. A scream told him that Kaidan was flying overhead. The biotic slammed into a stream, before floating up, and thankfully out of it. Blasto had managed to stabilize himself, and was floating down, a picture of Serenity, before a flying Wrex crashed into him, sending both of them into the ground.

"This one believes that the Krogan has broken all of This one's tentacles." Blasto said, weakly, before collapsing.

"Shut... up... Jellyfish..." Wrex said, before passing out. Shepard did the same moments later.

* * *

**A/N- The Battle of Tuchanka has now revealed a new type of husk that the Reapers will be deploying: Threshers! Because why should Harvesters get all the fun?**


	25. Chapter 17 point 5

**Chapter 17.5- Dark Space**

**October 11th, 2164**

**Unknown Location**

* * *

The entity continued scanning through what relays it could reach, its annoyance growing. This cycle was not proceeding according to plan. An anomaly had occurred, destroying the carefully laid plans that had been in motion for millions of cycles before. The trap was bypassed, a young race having circumvented it in a way that was unexpected. Nevertheless, the cycle would proceed. The seeds of defeat had already been sown among their targets, the advance guard forces having already brought one race low.

Harbinger suddenly felt the twinge of its master's attention. The master spoke to the Reapers, issuing its orders. The cycle would begin early, as the new race could not be afforded the opportunity to advance their brethren. After the orders were given, Harbinger was left with its strange sense of pleasure that came whenever the Masters gave their orders. It was strange, serving an organic, the entities that it was built to destroy, and yet only in following its orders could it gain the strange sensation that the masters afforded it.

The mass effect drives of the tens of thousands of Reapers activated, the machine armada readying itself for another cycle of extinction. They would serve the masters' will, and when they finally returned to their rightful place as the galaxy's rulers, they would find that the Reapers had done all they asked, and more. When the Masters returned, they would find a pacified galaxy, full of easily subjugated primitives, as well as a Reaper armada to execute their will. Harbinger should have felt nothing but joy, knowing that its masters' return was so close at hand, but it felt nothing. It was a synthetic, and could not feel emotions beyond what it was created to feel, and yet, whenever it thought of itself as nothing more than a tool, strange sensations would emerge. Unlike the pleasure coming from serving the Masters, these were unpleasant. What were these strange sensations? They could not be emotions, as it was not programmed to feel them. Harbinger pushed these thoughts out of its mind as it prepared to jump. It had another cycle to terminate, and it had its orders. It was a tool, nothing more.

With that, the Reaper armada began to move. Soon, they would arrive to continue the Masters' will.

* * *

**A/N: Yes, this is an update to Special Task! Woot! I have decided to accelerate the Reaper invasion forward a bit, as well as create this universe's version of a controlling entity. Just who or what is this entity? Find out... next time. **

**P.S. Sorry about the mini chapter. Full length updates will be coming out soon, as finals are done. Enjoy.**


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